


Left Behind

by q00zan



Category: HEARTBEAT (Video Game)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon Continuation, Character Death, Combat, Ending A (HEARTBEAT), F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Loneliness, Loss, Multiple Endings, Post-War, Searching for a loved one, Speciesism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-10-25 16:50:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17729081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/q00zan/pseuds/q00zan
Summary: A successful coup d'état in the Den sparked a movement against humankind. Most of what is known as Outset has already been reclaimed by the new Mogwai queen. Klein Gremory was separated from her conjurer and now searches for her, hopeful. She meets various characters along the way and fights for what she thinks is right.A take on what could happen after the Ending A in the game HEARTBEAT. This fanfic is based on the said ending, but takes place after it. Mentions of past events may be canon or divergent from canon.





	1. 1 - The Loner

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING! PLEASE NOTE THAT:  
> \- The events of this fanfic take place after the Ending A of HEARTBEAT, therefore may be a spoiler if you haven't seen it.  
> \- This fanfic may contain mentions or descriptions of: war, speciesism (mogwai-human), strong/hateful language/speech, character death.  
> \- This fanfic may contain mentions or descriptions of: violence, combat, humiliation.  
> \- This fanfic deals with topics such as: loneliness, loss of a loved one, separation from loved ones, survival, etc.  
> Reader discretion is advised.  
> Thank you very much for reading or just checking out my fanfic, and feel free to comment.  
> This particular fanfic has three endings written for it.
> 
> Extremely honoruable mention: Sava, for helping me with writing, ideas and keeping me motivated - thank you very much.

_ Keep smiling through, just like you always do _

_ Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away. _

 

A mysterious forest, full of shady passages, unexpected turns and other peculiar ways of going off the beaten path. A familiar landscape, yet such unfamiliar silence. Piercing through it, footsteps could be heard. Heavy. A lone traveler, measuring their every next step with a walking stick, pushing forward, perhaps tired from the long, exhausting hike. What really was travelling? For all we know, we could be wrong - this one might not be just a mere lost soul, one of hundreds, thousands, but an individual far more determined than the rest. Moving toward their destination.

In the darkness created by the high-hanging tree crowns, full of burgundy leaves, the loner’s eyes were glowing, relaxed, the power within dormant - perhaps, just for now. Above the bushy ruby grass, below the massive crimson trees, they seemed like part of the forest itself - a large poncho was covering most of their body, its ends shuffling about in the rare wind passing through Cirruwa. It brought smells of water and berries, flourishing somewhere far away… and, perhaps, something else. It wasn’t clear whether it was following and catching up, or leading and running away. Lingering. The silence of the Cirruwa forest only gave the feeling strength, seemingly torturing the wanderer.

They held onto something hanging off their neck. A memento. Sometimes, things hold memories - those we couldn’t erase even if we wanted to. Stored within objects, for safekeeping. As a sign, maybe. A reminder not only to ourselves, but to the whole world.

 

Someone else was ahead of them, down the forest path. A party of three, arguing with each other.

Mogwai. A large-looking cat sith, wielding a long staff, was hissing at a cu sith and a kobold, speech full of unpleasant idioms, obscenities. To say he was unhappy with his comrades would probably be an understatement. The cu sith was simply on the verge of tears, trying to interject an apology to his master. The kobold seemed in denial, arms crossed, growling to himself. They were all part of a team, perhaps a larger group - distinguished by purple armbands they were wearing.

The lone traveler was unphased by this, however, and kept making their way down the path, dragging their feet on the ground slowly. Soon enough, the three mogwai spotted the unexpected one.

 

“Curses! A human! Stop, you there!” the cat sith spoke up, sticking the bottom end of the staff into the soft ground.

It did not matter to them. Kept walking. Kept heavily breathing. Tapping the stick on the path, shuffling feet forward one after another. As if the whole world around them didn’t even exist.

“Are you deaf? Stupid? I said - stop, you dirty, smelly human!” the boss of the group yelled, again, now even louder. His team finally got to work, too, as they all chased and circled around the loner.

“I’ll rip your damn feet off!” the kobold growled, brandishing a large knife.

“You heard? Boss said stay!” the cu sith kept asking, seemingly unable to be menacing.

And, in the end, they did stop in their tracks.

“Well, now. Took you a real while to realize who was talking to you, you damn moron. What’s a human like you doing in Cirruwa? Thought we… cleared Harbei of your filth long ago,” the ‘boss’ spoke, dragging his staff along, “Of course, there are runaways, sometimes. And disgusting traitors, too. Care to explain? Don’t bother. We’re going to kill you anyway.”

“Alright! I’ll show this fool who owns the Outset now!” the kobold exclaimed, shaking from excitement as he stepped closer toward the ambushed wanderer. He drew his arm back and pushed it forward, trying to stab the defenseless victim in the side of the leg, hoping to bring them down, yet… the victim was still to be decided, in this encounter.

The loner moved out of the harm’s way swiftly, and simply kicked the kobold in the side of his head, unenthusiastically, but quite roughly - the overconfident thug fell down and met face to face with Cirruwa grass.

They all felt something. An aura, one that could not be mistaken.

“A-a traitor! A disgusting traitor! Oh my head! Get the traitor! Don’t let this filth escape!” screamed the little gang leader, gripping tightly onto his staff.

The trustworthy and loyal cu sith - he was born to follow orders - and couldn’t resist his commander. He drew his sword and approached his enemy.

A natural enemy? A forced one? He was a soldier, and, perhaps, even his opponent was. Did they hate each other? Maybe. Did they need to? No one knew. And there they was - barely fighting, yet one of them inevitably will have to commit something ungood.

The cu sith raised his hand, gripping the sword firmly, ready to slice, cut, slash through the enemy. And he would have done so, if the suddenly agile traveller had not hit him on the arm with the walking stick - which turned out to be solid, hard - it packed quite a punch, and something cracked. He yelped and fell onto the ground, just like the kobold, whimpering in pain.

 

Soon enough, the menacing and dangerous loner was standing in front of the arrogant cat sith, towering over him. He was shaking, and gave up his staff so easily when the enemy reached out and pulled it out of his hands. They stuck one end of it into the ground, then stomped onto the bar with their boot, breaking it in half. Then they stared into the eyes of the cowardly thug, saying nothing, but getting their point across. Behind them, the kobold was preparing to strike, unexpected, yet his own leader was quick to stop him.

“H… halt! It’s- it is her! Don’t kill us, please! We are sorry! Please! Don’t kill us!” the defeated cat sith pleaded, closing his eyes tightly, afraid to even look, “We didn’t do anything! We’re just the patrol! I swear! If you want, take them inst-”

“Shut up,” the wanderer said, smacking the mogwai’s face harshly - making him fall down, limp.

Probably passed out from the fright, rather than the hit.

 

She got up and kept moving, leaving the failed soldiers behind. Those thugs were not worthy of her attention. Such little groups were just the extension of the actual enemy. Besides, within this peaceful forest, she didn’t want to kill. Calm days like these were rare. She couldn’t remember the last time she spared a life.

Klein Gremory, her quest lead her into the mysterious Cirruwa. Somewhere ahead lay the town of Hisstanbul. She held onto her hope, undying within her core.


	2. 2 - The Marauders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter.   
> Writing this is a bit of a new experience for me. It's very exciting and I want to stay inspired to show the rest of the story to you.

Hisstanbul. A town that went through change again and again. A unique cat sith settlement in Outset, perhaps the most known but the least found - hidden in the depths of Cirruwa, yet not its most sacred parts. Once again, it has changed. It’s been changed, by someone else.

Pummelled. Sacked. Defaced. Looted. Suppressed and conditioned to be forgotten soon enough. But she would never forget, as long as her heart beat. And every other of a traveller who, in their endless wandering, could call this town their home. After all, it was just a resting point for the ever-travelling Outset healers. They’d carry the legacy somewhere else. Or so Klein hoped, looking at the ruined gates, guarded by a now headless manticore statue.

Despite her attachment to humans, and her conjurer, this was her people’s town. A place that wished no harm, providing home to the benevolent travelling doctors. Seeing them in villages, towns and cities around the city was a delight. Some humans did prefer now traditional modern medicine, but many resorted to magic provided by the wanderers from Hisstanbul.

Yet now, their past service didn’t matter. Their hub was taken over. Where were the cat siths themselves? Klein didn’t know. She hoped they had fled before the marauders came.

It broke her heart to see the once clean and proper little cat sith houses in ruin, twisted by the greed and disregard of the attackers. Homes to many aspiring Mogwai of various crafts…

Trees cut. Homes ruined. Creeks running through the town - polluted.

She heard sounds - growling and stomping, laughter. The scent was also familiar - she’d met someone with it at least once before. There was no mistake - those were werewolves ahead. Have they also been added up to the Den’s new army? There’s nothing the bloody queen wouldn’t do.

And they were coming. They were quite close. Klein dropped to the ground and slid aside, closer to a dirty pond. Staying there wasn’t the best idea. As she heard  the werewolves close in, the cat sith slowly crawled backwards into the water, until she was completely hidden under it, holding her breath. It was suddenly much quieter. Muddy liquid all over. Rotten smell. She tried not to think and just listen. How lucky it was that the werewolves were loud, at times obnoxious - or so they seemed to mogwai more modest.

 

“No one’s coming here. I’m telling you, all these fucking furballs fled a long time ago. You’re just making us more hungry,” one of them spoke.

“Whatever. You were the one who promised we’d get into the depths, then we spent two days stuck in a loop,” another replied.

“Fuck you.”

“No, fuck you, alright? You keep whining all the fucking time. The fuck’s wrong with you?”

“The fuck’s wrong with you?”

“You wanna fucking fight, or what?”

“Both of you shut the fuck up! You smell that?” a third voice asked them, “Someone was here. Quit fucking around and get to it.”

 

Silence. The growing presence of the pack could be felt, even underwater. One of them soon approached the pond Klein was hiding it, grumbling, growling to himself. Klein was hoping for him to go away soon - she’d been training, but couldn’t hold her breath for too long. But nothing was easy.

“What the… oh shit, guys, there’s-” the werewolf suddenly began to yell, yet couldn’t finish the phrase. Klein got up from the water and grabbed the werewolf by the collar, then dragged him into the pond. Pushing him under herself with her legs, kicking, she reached for something under her poncho. A sharp dagger shone in the dark and muddy water. And then painted it red, the mist spreading through the pond.

She knew who she was dealing with. There was no way out of this without a battle. The other werewolves were already there, three of them, mouths gaping, drooling.

“About time… meal’s arrived!” one of them growled.

They didn’t seem to even notice the loss of their pack member.

“Are you afraid, cat sith? How’d you like the new look of the town? Gonna be the last thing you fucking see,” another decided to mock Klein. She was a massive werewolf with long sharp fangs and bloodshot eyes.

“Shut your mouth. You reek,” Klein scoffed, as she kept her eyes on the werewolves, watching their every move.

“So do you! Look at you! You’re covered in shit!” the predator replied, laughing.

“And your buddy’s blood. And what’s that on your shoulder?” the cat sith asked, pointing at the enemy with her dagger.

The werewolf’s smirk was gone, as she took a moment to look at herself, and check her shoulders.

“What do you mean?” was the only thing she could say before she felt sharp pain in her chest. A dagger was stuck in it. She screamed in anger, taking a step back to recover, and ordered the two other werewolves to attack. And they gladly did so, closing in on seemingly defenseless Klein, without a weapon. That was what they thought.

 

The cornered cat sith swiftly took a knee and slid her hand under her poncho. Just a moment later she pulled out something quite unexpected - a revolver. She held it firmly in her hand, and let it do the job - two shots landed on both attackers, piercing through one’s head and getting stuck in another’s stomach. Just as she pulled the gun out, she put it back in - precisely, quickly, without a doubt, and swapped it for a shortsword.

Klein took two steps forward to stick the sword into the wounded werewolf, then turned around to face the last enemy - yet the leader of the pack was already lunging at her, thirsty for the agile and merciless cat sith’s blood. Klein managed to jump out of the way, but one of the claws did cut across her face at the last moment. Blood flowed down her face, covering her nose and mouth. It did not scare her. It was just another wound. Battle was not scary, losing it was. Failing her mission would be the end of all.

The menacing foe attacked once again, swinging her massive claws left and right - Gremory could barely escape the blows, either by dodging or parrying with her sword, eventually cutting her careless opponent, too. What followed next was a battle of endurance and bravery, as stabs, cuts, punches and kicks flew all around, the two losing themselves in the fight and at times not even noticing where the enemy was. In the end, the mighty werewolf pinned Gremory to the ground and wrapped her claws around cat sith’s neck, going to strangle her.

“Time to die, coward! Glad I will… enjoy this nice meal.. alone… now…” she growled, slowly fainting. Her eyes slowly closed, and her large frame fell onto Klein. The cat sith then struggled for a while, trying to push the limp body of the enemy aside.

She sighed. It hurt. This could be the end.

“Poison of… immediate effect. What a joke, Stolas,” she muttered, looking at the tree crowns above, “or, perhaps, I wasn’t meant to get the blades wet like… that? Ha… ha.”

She laughed to herself, and coughed. The sword was thrown aside and Klein rested her palm on her own chest, trying to concentrate. She had to keep herself alive. Somewhere far away, one person she loved could be in danger. Suffering. Wondering where Klein was. Lost. All because of the damned war. All because Klein didn’t manage to stay with her when she needed her the most. Or so she believed.

The tree crowns were bloody, hanging above. Their leaves dripped down like melting wax. Winds got louder. The grass was taking over her, welcoming. Soon she would disappear, she felt. What a shame. She couldn’t afford falling asleep.

 

She felt as if she was ascending. Going somewhere. The afterlife felt odd - as if two strong arms carried you away, into the void. Somewhere warm, and safe, now that she’d never have to worry about anything. Step by step. Into the depths. Back home.


	3. 3 - The Spiral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.  
> Exploring mogwai as emotional, impulsive beings, is very fun.

I reached out to her, but she didn’t even look. I tried calling out to her, but I was suddenly drowning. Fading, I saw her walk away. Did I leave you, or did you leave me?

 

It was suddenly dark, again. Three eyes shone bright in the mysterious voids. The two calm and green, squinting, belonged to the cat sith - they quickly adjusted to the new surroundings. The third belonged to an old friend. A golden spiral, spinning slowly and hypnotizing all around. It was calm and radiated nothing but curiosity, yet turned towards Klein, the stare felt as if it was drilling through, invasive.

Gremory instinctively reached for a weapon - the revolver happened to be lying at her side - and pointed it at the other person in the room.

“Start talking,” Klein threatened.

 

The host rubbed her hands together, sighing.

“I knew you would feel worse without it, so I put it there. Do not be alarmed, Gremory. You could say I am about as surprised as you are, as of now. In no way do I mean to put you in harm’s way. However, I would advise you to stay in bed. The marauders have inflicted… considerable wounds,” she said, dragging words along calmly, but so slowly, as if she was exhausted.

“Furcifer. So you’re alive…” Klein said, a bit relieved, as she lowered the gun and put it on a cupboard which stood next to her bed. She took a bit to look around herself now, and noticed that she was carefully put in bed, covered by a blanket. Her wounds were treated. The clothes - except for underwear - and the rest of her equipment was gone, though, “And you took my things.”

“I have made the decision to free you from your burdens, but do not worry - I just gave your apparel a wash and saved your belongings from rotting away. You must not bathe in the springs here. No one knows what the marauders, or the army, or anyone, really, do around here. But I suppose… all is ravaged by war,” Ives explained.

“Except the deepest parts of Cirruwa,” Klein seemingly finished the thought, sitting up in the bed, groaning just slightly.

“You are correct, yet I would not be so sure of our safety here. After all, once you are lost, you may get so lost you actually end up here. Most travellers force their way here, after all. Was it not the same for you and your conjurer?” Ives asked, standing up and scooping a piece of firewood from a stack, then shoving it into the fireplace. The room slowly lit up more.

“My conjurer. Eve. Eve…” Klein muttered, getting lost in thought.

“Please, take your time, Gremory. It travels slowly here. The world is not in a rush. Just a bit… Endangered.”

 

The cat sith shook her head, driving thoughts out of it. She looked up at the one who turned out to be her saviour. She looked somewhat different, compared to the last time they had seen each other. Before the war.

“Are you alright?” Klein asked, somehow a bit shy.

“That is funny, coming from someone who was quite close to departing from this world. No one is alright nowadays, it is simply whether you are alive or not. And we both are,” Furcifer responded, pressing her fingers together and moving them around.

“Cut it out. Your horns. What happened. And your clothes… actually, this whole house looks like it was repaired some time ago,” the cat sith kept asking, showing something unusual for the time - compassion to another.

The eye of the host, glowing, was spinning faster, reflecting the distress buried deep down, hidden.

“Before the marauders, whom you have already met, came around, the queen’s army also swept through Cirruwa. I suppose some of them got lost in the depths and ended up here… Wounded, hungry. Miserable,” she began telling the story, looking down at the floor.

“And you helped them?”

“Precisely so. My conjurer’s dwelling… they enjoyed the stay. However, as soon as their wounds were healed and stomachs were full, the duty within them was awakened once again. Not only was I an Outsetter, but they were also concerned about my human form… and my own duty here. I did not expect them to treat me in such a vile way. They… defaced the memories contained here. They mocked and tortured me, robbed the home of everything they could take, even upstairs. But, in the end, I was right. It will haunt them, not me. Is that not right?” Ives looked up at Klein, squeezing out a smile on her own face, squinting just a bit. As if she was to be judged.

“Where did they go? Who were they?”

“Oh, three of them. I would assume they were auxiliaries. A cat sith, and two loyal servants, so it seemed.”

 

Klein’s heart was racing. She leaned forward and pushed herself upwards, trying to stand up.

“Halt, Gremory, where are you going?” Ives said louder, distressed, as she stood up from her chair as well and approached the cat sith.

“Get me my clothes. I’m going to make them regret what they’ve done. Animals. Beasts. Savages. No better than god damn marauders,” Klein hissed, looking at Ives with eyes so pained and so hateful.

“Klein, we are all Mogwai, after all… not just beasts,” Ives said, grabbing her guest by the arms - surely, but carefully. She didn’t want her to go anywhere.

“Is that so? These creatures’ ambitions took Eve away from me. And you wouldn’t know what it feels like to lose a conjurer, would you now, Furcifer? Stop pretending. Let me go.”

The spiral never stopped now. It turned into sets of circles, connected.

“Gremory- Klein. I beg you. Stay here. Do not go anywhere. Your wounds. Please,” Ives said, her grip on the cat sith’s arms getting tighter. “Rest. For one day, at least, I ask of you. There is… so much. I must apologize.”

It was hard to resist. Klein slowly calmed down. She barely knew Ives, but having heard the story, she let the anger take over her. At that moment, Furcifer was the only she knew was still alive and well. Someone familiar.

 

Soon, they’ve both calmed down. Ives was sitting on her chair right next to the bed where Klein was resting. For quite a while, they just sat there, silent, thinking. They were robbed of their usual lives, time didn’t mean anything, until now. It took them long to gather thoughts together. So many things had happened.

“Does it hurt?” Klein suddenly asked, looking at her saviour’s head.

“What? Ah… the horns? Not anymore. I almost feel way sturdier now. I promise you, I really do. I appreciate your concern, but I would even like it more if you told me what bothers you. What brings you here?” Ives asked, slowly reaching for hand - the only one remaining - and held it in both of her palms, caressing it softly, hoping to calm Klein down. The topic was a peculiar, dangerous one, yet she couldn’t stop feeling the silent pain radiating from the cat sith’s mind, filling the room, “Please, tell me.”

“It was…”

 

It was just several weeks into the war, yet the works of the new queen were already apparent, even across the Outset’s countryside where they lived. Feral mogwai tamed and turned against the settlers. People’ minds corrupted by the Den agents and forced to perform for them. Danger was everywhere, and the people had not even fought a single battle with the mogwai army yet.

Soon, the time for it came. Thousands of Den mogwai, united by one goal to reclaim Outset and drive the humans away, and those who sided with them. The traitors. No one knew whether most of the soldiers had their minds tampered with by the new queen and her servants, or they joined the cause voluntarily. They were merciless, they captured, killed, destroyed anyone and anything standing in their path. Any battle conjurer still present in the area was helping the scarce human army detachments in the area, mostly covering the retreat of civilians. Eve and Klein did exactly that, utilizing both their combat skills and the cat sith’s healing abilities. Many wounds. Many deaths. Many fights. Non-stop panic.

One day, they had to split up. Eve covered Klein’s retreat, allowing the cat sith to save lives of many villagers. They had to be separated from each other to do so. Eve promised she would return. Klein promised she would come back. And she did. Yet Eve was gone, somewhere. She spent days searching the battlefield, desperate, crying out for her conjurer. It was torturous - because she felt and knew that Eve was alive, yet could not find her. The pact still remains strong, binding them together, yet without a way to know where any of the two were at the time.

All she could find was a green star keychain charm, symbolic, a part of the bakery’s image. Eve probably wore that. It didn’t matter before, but now it was the only thing reminding Klein of her conjurer. She was going to find her.

 

Furcifer suddenly got up and walked away, only to return soon with the charm in hand. It was clean, intact. She put it in Klein’s hand and held it again in her palms.

“You will find her, Gremory. If you feel the pact is unbroken, then she must be still alive somewhere. The pain within you is great, but it doesn’t match the emptiness you would feel, if Eve was…” she looked down, sighing.

“Dead. Yeah. It’s fine. I know she isn’t. I’ll find her,” Klein said, smiling just slightly, feeling the star charm in her palm. Both went silent for a while, again, listening to the sound of the Cirruwa winds outside, the fire creaking in the fireplace.

 

She looked up at Ives.

 

Slow-spinning golden spiral. Eyebrows arched up, worried. Warm hands that held her so tenderly, but the great power within the guardian could be felt. It was a shame she most likely wouldn’t join Klein on her journey. This power was stored to protect the memory of the long-gone conjurer.

She was beautiful - is what Klein thought. A long time has passed since the last time she could talk to someone this way, see someone familiar, feel safe. The cat sith hid such feelings under the desperate image of a woman on a mission, consumed by the ever-lasting thoughts about her conjurer, yet now, for a little while, all she could think about was Ives. Her wounds were itching and her heart was twisting, squeezing itself and squirming within. There were more questions to be asked, more things to talk about, but words and thoughts had nothing over the touch at that time.

Ives carefully pried the star charm from Klein’s fingers and leaned in, to tie the string it hung on around Gremory’s neck. Just as she was slowly going to lean back after trying the knot, she felt something cold touch her cheek. Klein’s hand, still not warm enough, even in such a welcoming home, pressed against Ives’ warm face. And she felt something, too. It was a big change from living alone, secluded, and recently - fearing for her safety.

Sitting on the chair, she pushed it even closer to the bed and reached for Klein with both of her hands. She put them on her shoulders, feeling them, sliding them up Gremory’s neck, resting them on her cheeks. The cold skin was slowly warming under the palms’ touch. Ives touched Klein as if she couldn’t believe she was in front of her. The spiral wouldn’t stop spinning, changing directions, as she stared into the eyes of her guest.

Klein took one of Ives’ hands and slid it from the cheek closer to her mouth and pressed her lips on it. Again and again, slowly. Her heart felt as if someone ripped it out and punched it again and again. It felt terrible, but she couldn’t feel enough of it. The qilin, perhaps, felt the same, her strong hands almost trembling from all of it.

 

She felt vulnerable but safe, protected, and confident in the presence of Furcifer. At last, someone who wasn’t an enemy. Someone who wasn’t destined to die by her hand. No one could see them, no one could tell them anything, and it mattered not.

Ives leaned in close, quite close to Klein’s face. Her breath blew over cat sith’s lips. Gremory put her hand - a killer’s hand - on the qilin’s head and ran the fingers through her hair. They hungered for touch and for love now, not for pain and death. Moving the thick strands of hair - which seemingly had grown even longer than Klein remembered - aside, Klein uncovered the part of Ives’ face usually covered up. Furcifer noticeably tensed up at that, but calmed down as soon as Klein slid the hand over to the back of her head and pushed it forward just slightly. An invitation. Ives accepted it and held her, tightly, but carefully, and pulled her in closer, closing her ever-spinning  troubled eye finally, with great relief. Their lips met for a brief moment.

"Gremory, it is... how should I say..." Ives said, stammering.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, alright? I know. Go ahead."

Excited, they both fell back into the kiss. Hands touching, lips rubbing, warm breath mixing in the air.

 

They couldn’t talk anymore. All was expressed in what they did together, for the rest of the while. Loneliness, despair, pain and stress - mashed together. A small ray of hope beamed down at both of them, as they reconnected with the brighter side of their emotions. Emotions, which were so prevalent within mogwai. Core part of their reasoning, their being.

Time finally stopped. It was just them.


	4. 4 - The Hooked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter. I hope you find it as exciting as I did when writing it.  
> Can't wait to tell you what happens next!

_ No one ever writes to the colonel,  _

_ No one ever waits for the colonel. _

 

Somewhere far away, she was crying. Without me. If I could, I would lend my shoulder. I would lend my whole body. I would give it up for her. I miss her, so much. Could it have been easier if she was no more?.. Stop.

 

Klein woke up. She heard the early morning outside - the birds and the animals awakening, taking tiny steps, hopping all around, calling out to each other. She heard the flame in the fireplace, slowly dying out.   
Ives was lying on the bed just near, facing her. Still asleep, breathing steadily. Klein leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and pressed her nose on her head, sighing. She smelled really good. Clean and lovely. She couldn’t get enough of the warmth, even now. She rubbed her cheek on the qilin’s face, rubbed her lips on the neck, the bare shoulders, feeling and breathing in. Soon, Ives woke up, groaning quietly, watching Klein. She let out a giggle. A rare thing for her.

“What are you doing?..”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Klein said. She climbed over Ives and left the bed.

 

Later on, Ives, wearing just a white robe, was helping klein dress up. She didn’t know why, but she felt like doing it, and did so with great pleasure. Looking at Klein felt nice, and she also was happy to see the cat sith recover from wounds. She was fastening some belts on Klein’s chest when Gremory suddenly spoke:   
“Ever thought why we do this?”

“What do you mean, this?” Ives asked, a little bit confused, as she looked up at her… guest.

“The clothes.”

“Ah, yes… the clothes. I know what you mean. The feeling of real fabric is indeed superior. It reminds me of those we care for, Gremory. Those we pacted with. Is it really bad to wish to seem a bit more like them?” Ives thought out loud, fixing and tucking Klein’s shirt in.

“We take the best from what we know about them. I knew a mogwai, so enthralled by human nature…”   
“That they felt as if they’re no simple mogwai?”

“Something like that.”

“Cirruwa’s creatures told me stories of mogwai standing up to the Den’s agression… fighting alongside human,” the qilin explained, now putting the poncho over Klein.

“Why do we do things we do?” Klein suddenly asked, looking up at the ceiling.

Both of them felt locked, lost in the conversation, yet understood each other clearly. Something mogwai were capable of.

“Why, our cores, our emotions, of course. I am well aware most of us would disagree, but it has been years since the first proof of our emotional dependency was discovered. Those who deny it risk falling victim to the overbearing emotions, within them,” Ives was slowly and patiently speaking her mind, as she fixed the poncho on Klein, looking if she missed any places there she had forgotten to stitch back together.

“The queen herself is driven by them, no doubt. Revenge is right for her. All this just for revenge… yet, we couldn’t let her win, that time. It’d be the end. We spared her life… and left her to brew that hate within. So much lost. Kon didn’t see it coming, now she is gone. We, perhaps, helped it happen. We are the ones to blame. We should have killed Voso, while we had the time… we…”

 

Ives stood up tall and grabbed Klein’s cheeks, stroked them, touched her ears.

“You know things like that would happen anyway. It does not matter anymore. See? Your emotions are taking over. What humans learned to do is suppress those. Of course, I do not mean getting rid of them entirely - although humans also knew how to do that, voluntarily or not. Find her, Klein. While you still can feel her. Do you know where you will go next?” Ives spoke to Klein, stroking her hair, trying to calm her down, just in case.

“Sand Bar. They had a ship there, a transporter platform that lead to one, at least. The curators opposed the new war, and I’m sure they would probably think of a plan to get humans off the planet in the ship somehow. Maybe Eve went there.”

Ives went away for a bit and returned with Klein’s weapons, and handed them all over. The revolver was fully loaded. Klein smiled. With just one hand, it was a bit of a hassle, usually, considering all her weapons were real, human-crafted ones. Furcifer nodded, satisfied with her work.

“What about Quinn and Frey? Where’d they go?” Klein asked, out of curiosity, as she sheathed one of the short swords she had, and hid it under the poncho.   
“They… Left. To one of their pocket dimensions, I assume. Frey said Quinn was not safe here. Maybe she was right. I think Quinn wanted me to come along, at first, but as soon as I spoke of my duty, they both seemed… cold. Very cold, freezing, I would say. I felt as if, well, they thought I was… out of my mind, perhaps,” she said, looking down at the floor, her hands still clinging to Klein’s sides.

The core. Hurt. Or the heart, perhaps - that’s how Klein prefered to think of it. It hurt so, so much.

“I’ll come back for you. I promise. Or something. I’ll make sure you’re safe, and not alone. I promise you. And, please, don’t let anyone in… and fight back. I need you. Everyone else loyal to what they believed in, needs you,” the cat sith said, putting her hand on Ives’ neck, pushing the qilin’s chin up with her thumb. Before she could respond, Klein leaned in, and kissed her again. It felt unreal. Love, affection, kindness, felt so magical amongst the ruin of war. Intoxicating.

They both smiled. Happy. Still, emotions feeding them. Enjoying it, for the last time, perhaps. Nobody knew how long they’d still go on. Klein had a lot on her mind. She had to get strong, stronger than all of the mogwai. A solution was brewing within her, but she didn’t know if she was ready.

 

She took the hidden paths through and out of Cirruwa, heading to where she assumed Sand Bar and its museum was. For a while, she was walking in silence, peacefully, still overwhelmed by her meeting with Ives. Still, one thought was tormenting Klein. What made humans so strong? What made the soldiers, fighting alongside her, so committed to the duty, like Ives, yet so cunning and rational at the same time? And why would a creature so adaptive and sturdy just decide and lay down their life for someone else? She felt the revolver swinging about in the holster. A while ago, Klein took it from a dead man’s hands, she had to pry them open. Torn apart, mauled to death, he was holding onto the weapon, lying next to a metal gate. He was protecting someone else’s retreat. Died a horrible death. Could have ran with them, but would it give them enough time?

Klein felt as if she was slowly getting ready to sacrifice her life like that, for Eve, when the right time comes. It would be painful for the girl she loved, no doubt, but it would be the right thing to do. She loved her so much.

 

It took long, but she finally reached the town. If only the sewers hadn’t been flooded by the mogwai army…

Sand Bar was empty. “All fish welcome” cried the sign at the entrance, and no fish were there - at least not the mogwai kind. Deserted sandy streets, crooked houses and withered trees. No one tended to anything anymore. Yet another abandoned town, bound to be forgotten throughout the war and destroyed after the new queen establishes control over all of Solum. What a shame that was. Klein passed several creaking wooden bridges, saw a fishing pole there, an empty bucket knocked over here. Someone hanging off the wires, connecting several posts. She decided not to look. Like any place, this one was not safe from violence of the war, and it unnerved her - if this is the place Eve went to, is she safe now?

There was no time to lose, and the wanderer headed for the museum. Strangely enough, the teleportation pad outside seemed… oddly dim. Non-functional. Lifeless, its surface cracked, as if someone smashed it in a hurry. Suddenly, it seemed, a storm was gathering somewhere above in the skies, and it started raining. Klein hurried inside, kicking the door to the museum open, stepping through. It shut behind her, and inside was all dark. Once again, it took her eyes a while to adjust to the surroundings.

A mess. Dust everywhere. The fish tank to her right, which used to be so clean, now broken, overgrown with moss and something else she didn’t bother thinking about. Everything seemed as if it suffered colossal, irreparable damage. And, perhaps, the museum itself wasn’t the only entity impacted by it all.

She heard something scratching, way in front of her. Klein saw sparks fly up in the air, then a small flame burst up and ignite something which slowly burnt, and emitted smoke. It felt as if the room slowly lit up, but how? Klein shook her head, feeling as if she was beginning to feel much lighter than usual. Yet, she took steps forward, towards whoever, or whatever was ahead. The closer she got, the more she recognized, and despite that - she was bewildered by the sight.

 

In an armchair, behind the reception desk of the museum, sat an imposing figure. One arm rested on the table, the other was raised, the hand holding a tobacco pipe near the face. They had their side turned to Klein, looking somewhere else. A grey peaked cap, embroidered and decorated with bright golden stripes, leaves and symbols. The star in the front - marked the allegiance to the new mogwai army, as far as Klein could judge. Long strands of dark hair flowed down from under the cap, almost covering the face of the person in front of Klein - whoever it was, they were more concerned with their pipe, taking drags from it again and again, puffing smoke out.

They turned their head a bit, stretching and rolling their shoulders as well - those were covered by a vast-looking capelet, with odd-looking epaulettes growing atop, strings dropping down from them quite, quite long in all of their golden glory. They reflected the person’s rank - Klein could identify it as captain of the mogwai army’s navy, or something along these lines. The rest of the capelet was littered, absolutely covered with medals, badges, service ribbons… and none of them made sense. Some in shapes of circles, some like stars, the colours mixing together: purple, light blue, yellow gold, orange. It looked chaotic, unhinged, not regulated - something you wouldn’t expect from a warrior as experienced, judging from the amount of status awarded to them. The grey capelet, of course, was also embroidered with gold, and below it was a light blue uniform, with yellow strings stretching horizontally across the chest, from top to the bottom.

The weirdest and the most unsettling part of the odd attire, perhaps, was the large pocket watch attached to a rusty golden chain, hanging off the person’s neck. It looked broken, and frozen, its arrows crooked. Klein was horrified, because she knew who was in front of her, yet she didn’t expect to meet them like that.

 

“Avi...sa?” Klein asked, quite wary of the other mogwai’s presence, in a human form, in an attire such as that. Ominous presence. Ungood.

“Ah?” the woman sitting in the armchair turned towards Klein and exhaled, a cloud of smoke flying towards the cat sith’s face, “I be damned. Hiiii, kitty! Welcome, to the realm of the forgotten… the realm of the ones left behind. Starring you, and yours truly - Avi. And it seems like it’s just us two here. Huh! Peculiar. Very, very interesting, isn’t it? I thought you’d definitely have someone by your side. I was a bit envious, thinking about you, I have to admit!”

Avisa tapped her fingers on the desk, then inhaled some more, and let it all out, again. She looked up at Klein and her stare pierced the cat sith’s eyes. Two dark, frightening slits, carved in the woman’s face, and two trembling orange circles flickering in the void. The look of these lost, desperate eyes reminded Klein of someone. It wasn’t normal, at all, not for Avi she knew.

“You sure haven’t forgotten about me, since you’re here. Isn’t that right? You came here, all the way-way from where ever, ever you were. You came here, to me. Would never think it would be you, Klein. So cool.. you know I’m quite fine with you coming here. Even though… what’s with your fa-a-ace, huh?” Avi took the pipe out of her mouth and pointed at Klein with it, “You look like you’re at a funeral, or something. Someone died?”

Klein hesitated for a moment. She felt something. Evil.

“Not… yet.”

Avi’s jaw dropped, in her usual, joyful smile, yet now it looked as if she just didn’t know how to react. The glowing circle in her empty, dark eyes flickered more.

“I see. You know, you should treat a person like me with more respect. I outrank you. By all standards, no more, no less! Perhaps, more! Perhaps, I’m legally allowed to behead you on spot, Gremory, what would you say to that? Look at me, Klein, lo-o-ok at all of my life, sewn onto me, look!” Avisa yelled, her voice cracking, going up and down, as if she struggled to decide on how she should sound, “I’ve done so much! And I had to be left here! No one came here for Avi! Everyone sure gave a damn, about you! That time. No one came for Avi, though, how about that? Selfish, stupid, snivelling, suck-up-scummy, shit-smeared sons-a s-s-s... “

She lost the trail of her phrase soon enough, shaking the pipe in front of Gremory’s face, her mouth wide open as her voice kept creaking, confused.

“Hoo… hoo… think you’re hard shit, are you now? Tough as nails? Die hard?” Avi muttered, standing up from the armchair.

“What are you even on about? Snap out of it. You better,” Klein responded, finally, quite wary of how Avi acted. Emotions. What happens if someone pushes your buttons a bit too much, and takes advantage of them.

“Alright! New Mogwai Navy’s Captain Avisa is… done with you! Vacate my office, immediately!” Avi yelled, and laughed, pointing at the exit.

“Hey, calm down, alright? Settle down. I’m trying to find Eve. You remember her, right?” the cat sith, stepping back, asked, slowly reaching for under her poncho.

 

“Hee-hah! So you were not, in fact, here to see mee. You were just looking for Eve. Well, tell you what, has it ever occurred to you, that you might be not the only one looking for Eve? For an Eve? Selfish shellfish, you,” Avisa hissed back at Klein, suddenly climbing the desk and then standing on top of it.

“What are you even talking about… hey, get down from there…”

 

“ **I am the one who gives orders here, you maggot, you-u-u.** Now fight like a soldier, or die like a pest, Klein! I’ll prove my worth, once and for all, when I tear that medal off your lifeless corpse, you coward!” Alocer threatened Klein for the last time, before pointing at the star charm hanging off the cat sith’s neck.

The upcoming battle had just become personal, at that moment. For the first time, somehow, Klein felt absolutely nothing but the need to protect herself, and that last piece of memory of her conjurer tied to her neck.

Suddenly, all around turned pitch black, confusing the cat sith, but not for long before it all flashed white, blinding her with bright light all around. As she was recovering, blinking fast, she saw Avisa in front of her, standing behind a row of something Klein could only identify as a mounted machine gun, charging up to unleash its firepower at the enemy. There was no doubt about it: not only Alocer was using her magical abilities to distract Klein and conjure weaponry, but her power was somehow enhanced, amplified. Soon enough, the machine gun launched bolts of light towards Klein, at such rate that it almost seemed like an unstoppable ray of light drilling through the air towards the poor cat sith.

Avisa giggled as the weapon ran out of charge. She kicked it aside with her foot and stepped forward, hoping to see the enemy’s lifeless body on the ground. Instead, when the glitter and the brightness of the attack vanished, she only found Gremory standing tall and proud, her only hand clenched in a fist, a powerful spell protecting her from harm. She gave Alocer a stern look, full of disdain.

 

“Magic, huh? Pathetic. So be it,” she said, turning her shoulder towards the enemy, looking at her. She slowly lifted her hand up, as something shone bright and gradually grew out of it, until a shiny, new rapier was pointed at Avisa. “ **En garde, coward.** ”

For a moment, the ikaroa’s eyes opened wide in surprise as she couldn’t believe the cat sith’s resilience. Then she smiled, the joy growing within her overbearing. A worthy opponent. Avi took a step back, reaching for her belt and unsheathed a sharp, shining dirk.

Two very powerful fighters met each other within the Sand Bar’s museum. A war-born killing machine, now going back to her roots in order to continue her mission. And an off the record captain of an imaginary vessel, possessed with a newfound unknown power.

They had to survive, to meet **her** \- and her only - some day.


	5. 5 - The Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it.  
> Writing fights is something I haven't done too much, but I hope it turned out well enough.

This was no battle of flesh and steel, skills and magic. This was a duel with something greater standing right behind it, ready to strike, depending on who comes out victorious. Klein felt it as soon as she saw the walls of the museum move towards them, locking her and her opponent in a narrow corridor. Perfect for the combat style they’ve picked. It felt like a competition, like a game, not because of the high stakes, but because of being watched by something. The walls to both sides had eyes, or, at least, it felt as if they were staring at Klein, analyzing her every move.

 

“How’d it come to this, huh, Alocer?.. Hey, I’m talking to you,” Klein said sternly, taking several steps forward, a couple back, the rapier raised and primed to strike whenever.

“Never thought you’d be so talkative, Gremory,” Avisa, her opponent, responded with great enthusiasm. Staring at her with the odd, dark eyes. Switching the dirk between her hands slowly, waving it slightly, menacingly, trying to confuse Klein. “My potential has been recognized, finally. No more good ol’ pal Avi, there’s only captain Alocer now. But you can still call me Avi, I guess… just because you’re an old friend-o.”

“You never were on their side. You never went to the war. Weren’t you just transporting troops? What’s with the attire?” the cat sith kept asking questions, slowly walking backwards. She hoped there won’t be an end to the odd arena they’ve been put in, until she brews up a plan.

“I never went to the war? I was there, Klein. I held the damn wheel, I had the controls! Pushing the beeping buttons. I took ‘em, and then I brought ‘em to battle, where they all died. Without me, they’d never come there! They’d never die! And others wouldn’t die, without them around! It wasn’t fun, you know, piloting and all, as you see a carrier next to you explode… boom, boom, boom, smoke and fire everywhere - watch out, here comes the pilot’s severed arm!” Avisa explained, her speech getting heated more and more, until she suddenly ran towards Klein and thrusted her hand with the dirk in it forward, trying to stab the opponent in the stomach. Luckily, Gremory avoided it, and they simply swapped places on the battle runway, “You’re fast! But I'm faster! They should have let me fight alongside with everyone else. I’d get cool scars. The scars on my core would mean something, too. I was just a cannon fodder provider. I was no damn hero! Treated like I’m stupid!”

“We don’t have to fight now. If you want to go to war, you should stop pretending and go out, and face it. Too bad it’s almost over, and in your lovely mogwai army’s favour, apparently.”

“You’re delusional. What are you doing here, then, anyway? Trying to act all toughy-tough. Acting human. Remember who you really are, Klein. What kind of life is it, obeying those you should be outranking? Being pushed around by those weaker than you?” Alocer, out of control, kept talking, and talking, almost drilling the speech into Klein’s head. At some point, she didn’t even sound like Avisa Alocer, but _someone else_. Not even the odd Captain, but someone deep within, trying to relay a message.

 

Trying to escape the thoughts, so forcefully planted into her mind, Klein, still holding the rapier, raised her _other hand_ to cover her ear… and did so. She froze, and looked at her arm, the one she lost long ago, now back in place.

“What the...”

She felt sharp pain in her side - while she was distracted, Avisa ran towards her and slid under her arm, then drove the dirk through, piercing her. Growling, Klein instinctively punched and then swatted Alocer - who was looking up at her, with a broad smile, frightening and mocking - with the back of her hand, away. She reached for the dirk, still stuck in her, and pulled it out, then pressed her palm against the wound. The magic seemed amplified now within her too - healing her almost instantly. The rules of battle were all different here.

Klein dropped the stance and marched towards downed Alocer, drawing the rapier back and then thrusting it forward, trying to stab her enemy while she was on the ground. Giggling, the ikaroa captain kept rolling out of harm’s way, Klein’s rapier instead stabbing the floor. She grabbed onto cat sith’s legs and pulled on them, making her fall, then wriggled up on top of Klein. As she raised her hands up, two new sharp dirks appeared in her hands, pointed downwards and aimed at Gremory. The cat sith took advantage of the moment and conjured a sharp blade of light, fast enough to slice through one of Avisa’s arms and disarm it. The other hand dropped on Klein hard, she was able to grab it when the dirk’s edge was just inches away from her eyes.

Both struggled for some while. In complete silence - on the outside. They didn’t feel or hear breath and grunts, moans of pain. Only their thoughts - a mix of regret and curses aimed at themselves, each other and everyone else.

“Die, traitor! Traitor, traitor, little coward! Kitty coward!”

“I’ll show you, animal. I don’t feel. I don’t hear. I don’t talk. I will end you.”

“Playing human again, silly? How about you get rid of that magic, then, and be the weakling you aspire to be? Bo-o-o…”

“Get out of my head!”

“Ge-e-t out of my-y he-e-ead!” Avisa mocked Klein’s thoughts, laughing. She stopped, when another solid punch suddenly flew to her face, powerful enough to make her fall to the side and drop her hat.

Trying to dumb down pain, irritation and pure anger, Klein screamed, as loud as she could, and stood up from the floor immediately, then walked over to Avisa. She grabbed her face, placing her thumbs atop Alocer’s pitch black eyes, with the two ominous circles within it shining bright orange, some sinister evil hiding within.

“Let me add two wound ribbons to your uniform…” Klein hissed at her enemy, pressing the thumbs on the ikaroa’s eyes hard, going to squeeze them through.

 

The next thing she knew, it was her getting her eyes poked out.

“That… would only make me stronger, Gremory,” Avisa proudfully said, sitting atop the cat sith. Klein yelled, and, panicking, grabbed onto the capelet covered in medals, and shook hard, trying to break free. She accidentally ripped two badges off it, and then kicked Avisa off with her feet. Blinking and groaning from the pain in her eyes, she looked down at the badges she tore off the captain - they slowly withered and melted… into blood.

Memories, although not of her own mind, struck Klein. They were Avisa’s, but false. Memories of fighting alongside other soldiers in numerous battles. Then a vision of conquering a land that didn’t even look like Solum.

She looked up at Avisa, who was shaking nearby, like a hurt animal, looking back at Klein with pure living hatred in her eyes - it was almost ready to escape the ikaroa’s body and lunge at the offender.

“I’ll have you… court-martialed, you maggot! You maggot! Ruining my suit like that! You know how long I’ve spent arranging it!” Avisa cried, getting up from the floor and picking up her hat. The walls around them moved again, expanding the battlefield. “Human tricks won’t save you. Accept who you are. Then we may deal… deal death, together, but to the glory of our queen, Klein. Isn’t it just great to do something for a gal you love? Anyone can love a queen, right?”

Klein smiled at her.

“Indeed. In fact, I might be interested. I surrender. Please, tell me all about it, I don’t want to be eternally tormented by this battle with you,” Klein said, raising her hands in the air slightly and walking towards Avisa.

The captain, however, had something else in mind. She ran forward, again, and this time stabbed Klein in the stomach with both of her hands armed with dirks. Alocer opened her mind, wheezing and squealing with joy.

“Thought I’d let you go that easily? I know you wanted to trick me. Now, die-”

“I already did,” Klein said, placing both of her hands on Avisa’s shoulders, then clinging to the epaulettes on them. She ripped them from the uniform and then, groaning from pain, slapped them on her own shoulders. Memories were flowing in, again.

Glory, riches, recognition. Her family, the curators, treating her with utmost respect. There wasn’t a person on Solum that wouldn’t know her name. The famous captain, war hero, defender of the weak, destroyer of the vile. Slowly, those memories were altered, once again…

 

“It’s Captain Gremory now.”

In a blink of an eye, everything changed. Avisa was on the floor, wounded, and Klein was standing above her. She felt her whole being change. Something was slowly trying to crawl into her mind and convince her that the newfound and weaponized memories, were, in fact, her own. Gremory actively resisted the thought, her goal was to - first of all - ‘demote’ Avisa far enough to start dealing with whatever was possessing her.

“Give it back! Give it ba-a-ack! You’re a mean one, Gremory! I knew you were jealous of all… the good things… I b-bet you wanted your own cheevo room!” Alocer cried on the floor, trying to crawl backwards away from Klein, slowly, terrified.

World turned upside down, and again, and again, until Klein was there, pinning Avisa to the ground with her foot pressed on the ikaroa’s chest. She didn’t understand how this new power worked, but it made her unstoppable - perhaps, her past real experience amplified the make-believe abilities. She took all of the medals, the badges, the insignias, the ribbons off Avisa’s uniform and attached them to her own body, crudely slapping it on the top of her poncho. All in one scoop. Klein stood and watched as Alocer faded, falling asleep.

Yet another enemy remained. By this time, Klein knew for sure. Within her, with the power she gained, someone else was attempting to pull the strings. She felt her vision going dim, her body almost changing. Weird thoughts and memories blended and mixed together, creating a new past and present, and even future for her. But it wasn’t strong enough to take over her, and it was attempting to make her do an unbelievable evil - to find and destroy her lovely Eve.

Concentrating and calling out to the powers of light within her, she pressed her hand - the one she knew was real - to her own chest and pressed hard, harder than ever, as if trying to squeeze something out of herself, letting the light flow out and in her, again and again. Nothing hurt like that before - Klein experienced pain, almost as if another person was placed under her skin. She was carving a path through herself, to pull that evildoer out.

 

All the while, although she was trying to follow Ives’ advice on how determined humans were, she kept another thought in mind - Eve. Nothing mattered as much as finding Eve did. Love, whether it was an emotion, or something else, was the main priority. Love and all that came with it - the duty, the loyalty. She wanted to see her smile again… no. She wanted everyone  to see the smile of the new ambassador. She wished to stop the war. Or at least preserve someone who meant peace to her. Love is a mess, and so was her mind…

 

Slowly, something poked through Klein’s chest and slowly wiggled around, trying to push itself out. In horror, Gremory saw nothing else but a cunning kunekune shaking and trembling, escaping her body. She grabbed it with her hand, held it tight and pulled on it, violently, with no remorse, tearing it out of her own chest. It turned out to be longer and larger than she thought, and such sudden exit made Klein fall to her own knees, as she saw the stringy kunekune fly and grotesquely fall to the floor with a loud smack.

“Of course… of course it’d be her own doing…” Klein thought - and it echoed all around. She slowly limped towards the wounded - as she presumed - elusive enemy, while ripping all the odd medals and trophies off her clothes. She didn’t need that anymore. In fact, she promised to herself to never remember those weird, made-up thoughts, ever again.

When she set the sole of her boot atop the wriggling, pathetic kunekune, ready to stomp it to death, the enemy suddenly took a human form. It was a young woman who resembled general Voso - or queen Voso - quite a bit - the same pitch black eyes with the yellow lights glowing within them, light skin, light pink hair - although cut short in quite a formal, strict way, compared to the general’s style - as Klein remembered it. She was wearing a white turtleneck, with two shoulder belts, connected in the middle, coloured red. On her shoulder was sewn a patch with an insignia unknown to Klein - looked like some flower. Yorshk’s personal agents, no doubt about it - like those they had to fight a long time ago, although stronger. They weren’t able to do such atrocities before.

“Look at you. A fine copy of your mommy, aren’t you? What were you doing to Avisa? What’s your mission?” Klein was speaking up, pressing her boot on the downed agent harder, threatening to stomp her neck.

“If I tell you, would you let me go? Come on. I was just doing my job. Following orders. Soldier to soldier?” the agent responded, cracking a little smile while looking at Klein, breathing heavily. She felt sharp pain in her neck as the cat sith pressed on.

“I’m no soldier. Soldiers die. I don’t. You better drop the show and start talking, maybe your fate will change.”

 

The agent took a deep breath, squirming uncomfortably under pressure.

“At times like this, I’m glad she was affectionate enough not to control her own agents’ minds. Anyway. I’m not the only one. Yorshk dispatched several agents to Outset, targeting those who helped Eve Staccato, mainly. Your friends, I suppose. My task was to take over the H. M. S. Tenebro, but…” she looked at Avisa, who was still asleep on the floor, “I wasn’t strong enough. I think she- she noticed right away, when I started influencing her actions. She just put coordinates into the damn thing, and then rushed back, and beamed down to this cursed museum… broke the transporter. And trapped herself, before I could even do anything. I failed. But I was hoping I’d find a better vessel. You’re pretty fucked up, Gremory, you know that?”

“Yes. I’m aware. I’m not fucked up enough to dig through someone’s head like that, though. Speaking of, get us out of this,” Klein growled, squinting as she stared down at the kunekune.

“Out of what?"

“I’ll break your damn neck right now. The illusion. I know this isn’t real. Let us out, or you won’t survive this, I promise.”

The agent thought for some while, despite Klein’s boot pressing so hard it almost suffocated her.

“Actually, a fine idea. I’ll just tell the coordinates to the queen and we’ll deal with the runaways.” the kunekune agent concluded, seemingly dispersing the illusion around them.

“You fucking what now?” Klein managed to say, before her head spun really, really fast, everything around becoming a blur.

 

They weren’t in the darkness anymore, nor were they in the lobby. The ‘cheevo” room, as Avisa once called it - with the trophies mostly, although not fully intact. Through the display glass in front of her, Klein noticed a faint silhouette of the agent fleeing the scene. She reached for the revolver. She aimed up and shot, immediately, twice. Unfortunately for the kunekune, she wasn’t fast enough, and the two bullets ripped through her back. She fell flat on the floor, and moaned in pain. Yet, she kept crawling.

“You’ve made your last mistake, you worm!” Klein screamed, shaking her head, stumbling in the direction of the wounded enemy.

“Beaten… by a light-element… both of you were supposed to be easy prey…” the agent mumbled, coughing very hard.

“Too bad. This thing here,” Klein said, squatting next to the kunekune and grabbing her by the hair, turning her head so she could see the revolver, “it doesn’t care who you are, and what you’re made of. If light can’t purge your filth, then this will. You had your chance. See you on the other side.”

 

A silent scream. Another shot. Hundreds of people saved, perhaps. She didn’t know. Klein sat down on the floor and cried. The memories - both fabricated and not, her memories, and Avisa’s, still shifted through her mind. She hadn’t shed a single tear in a long, long while. Gasping for breath, struggling, she fell on her back next to the dead kunekune agent and laughed, and cried, and sobbed, kicking her feet and slamming her hands on the floor. She thought about things she didn’t want to think about. It was all too much. Perhaps, it was time to sleep, forever - is what her mind suggested. Klein bargained for a bit with herself, before bringing the barrel of the revolver up to the side of her head.

“Klein!”

She stopped.

“Klein? That’s you- that’s you! Klein!” Avisa called out to her, first crawling, then almost running on all fours towards **her saviour** , “What are you doing? Put that down… come on, pretty please? I don’t- know what happened, but, you have to put the thing down.”

She slowly grabbed Klein’s hand, sitting down next to her. She helped Gremory sit up from the floor just a bit. Klein rested her head and shoulders on Avisa’s lap, breathing heavily. She looked up at **her own saviour** , and the usual - the familiar pair of orange eyes looked back at her.

“It’s me, Avi, see? Your pal Avi. I gotcha, I gotcha…” she kept talking, in a sweet, sweet tone, while sliding the gun out of Klein’s hand, “there we go… you don’t need it anymore.”

“It hurts… damn it, it hurts so damn bad!”  
“I know, kitty, I know it does…” Alocer put one of her hands on Klein’s head and stroked her hair, while taking a look at a corpse next to them, “so, that’s who it was… I wonder. How long I was trapped here.”

And they sat there, clinging to each other. Brought back to the real world, denied an easy resolve, forced to go on. For a while, Avisa was holding Klein in her arms, helping the cat sith calm down. As soon as she regained her senses fully and understood what was going on around, Klein got up, somehow even a bit embarrassed. Showing her weakness didn’t go well with her image - is what she thought, a ridiculous thing to be worried about right after you attempt to take your own life, thinking it’s all over. But, in the end, it wasn’t - it was far from over.

Avisa smiled, this time genuine, as real as it could get.

“It’s my turn to get hugs and stuff! Come on, I haven’t seen you in a while!” she said, excited, almost jumping up and wrapping her arms around Klein. She had her usual old uniform back, although all dirty from crawling around the debris.

“Please, I can’t breathe. Avi- my damn back hurts so much,” Gremory begged, hugging back just slightly and tapping Alocer on the shoulder.

 

They started a little fire in the middle of the cheevo room. It was all messed up anyway. It unnerved Avisa, no doubt, but she claimed it didn’t matter all that much, at least not anymore. Warming up near the fire, she told Klein the whole story, often trailing off and muttering something to herself, pausing, getting lost in thought. The listener didn’t mind, however. Klein felt reborn, in a way - she knew way more now. About herself, and about Avisa, too.  
H. M. S. Tenebro was filled to the brim with human refugees. To the lucky ones who managed to board the ship, it didn’t quite matter where they would go - as long as it out of harm’s way. Avisa, obviously, was supposed to be piloting the ship. Just before they left the planet’s orbit, Alocer felt something brewing within her head. It had ruined her schedule even earlier, intrusive thoughts getting her off the usual order of actions she had for preparing for the ship’s launch, and other important matters. It did not feel right.

At some point, standing at the main console, the metallic surface reflected her - and someone else within her. It was none other than the kunekune agent.

Sensing danger, Avisa set the coordinates and scheduled the ship to move, giving herself some time to retreat. She used all of her willpower to get to the transporter and beam down to the surface, then proceeded with destroying the platform near the museum. She had never before felt danger so clearly. If she hadn’t left the ship, she would have done something awful.

“Control the ship. Dispose of traitors. Vent the humans. Join the mogwai army,” the voice corrupting her mind said.

She didn’t give up. She locked herself in the museum, and trapped the agent within her mind, refusing to let go, getting fully absorbed by the persona and memories created for her, but not letting the kunekune take control. She had been there, waiting, deep down hoping someone would come and check on their good pal - Avi.

 

“And you really did come here, didn’t you? I’m so lucky…”

“Avi… you saved all of them,” Klein said, quite shocked, “I don’t know which memories I’ve gathered from you are true… but if you think you’re not worthy, or that you haven’t done enough - you’re wrong. You’ve done something hundreds, thousands never managed to do. Managed to save their lives. Sacrificed yourself.”

“Stop… that. It’s nothing. It’s not that special. You’re cool, too, you know...” Avisa said, tearing up. Soon, she could hold it in anymore, and tears just flowed from her eyes, down her cheeks, “I’m sorry I got you into this trouble. I didn’t mean all the things I might’ve said to you… oh, wait. You’re looking for Eve, right?”

Avisa wiped her nose with her sleeve, sniffling. Her mood changed quickly, as she remembered something.

“Yes. Why?”

She ran off to somewhere in the room, and then quickly returned, smiling and giggling, excited to show something to Klein.

“Nile told me something, a some while before we had to leave. She had foreseen something great. And, well, you know Avi. Just couldn’t sit still! I thought I’d make it, just in case. It’s not as cool as the usual cheevos, but I just didn’t have much on me. Cut my finger makin it!”

Avisa handed Klein a small statuette, carved from wood, depicting Klein and Eve. Finally together.. It was crude, but it was enough to give Gremory hope greater than ever. It was clear.

“Thank you… thank you, so much,” Klein said, moving closer to Avisa to embrace her. She kissed her on the cheek, so happy with what she had seen, “I have something to give to you.”

She took the star charm off her neck and handed it to Alocer, who looked at her, puzzled, but also seemingly excited.

“You deserve more, but… here’s one medal you should have. She misses you too, I am sure of it. I’m sorry if, perhaps, some of the things I know are very personal,” Klein was trying to explain her action, a bit embarrassed and probably regretting it already.

Avisa’s face turned red, but she accepted the gift, and thanked Klein many, many times. They spent some while talking, crying and laughing again and again, sharing their memories and looking back at them.

 

Klein offered Avisa a place to stay, and explained how to get there. A girl is living alone in the Cirruwa, and could use someone to help her around - is what she told her, and Alocer was happy to travel there. In return, she gave Klein a hint as to where to go next - some of the refugees spoke of a partisan movement around Otecho.

They parted ways, determined to keep moving on. Klein looked at the little statuette, and hid it, close to her heart.


	6. 6 - The Desires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter. I hope you like it!  
> There's a lot happening out there. A lot to handle.  
> Forgive me for any typos or spelling mistakes. I am slowly correcting them as I go through the chapters, and I plan on editing things when the fic is finished.

My dearest Eve. I have travelled for so long. I have searched, and I will search more for you. All I hope for is that you will still accept me. Welcome me into your embrace. Allow me to stay. Would you still love me, just like long ago? In my pursuit of strength I haven’t become human, neither have I remained a mogwai. But I still miss you. And I miss everyone else. I wish we could go back. What we did back then, at the castle, was a huge mistake. All of it.

 

The newfound memories gradually settled within her mind, bonding with her own. She was at peace, at least for some while. Somewhere ahead was the city of Otecho. A young city for young people - an attempt at shoving as many affordable apartments in one spot as possible. Which worked, and the young did settle in there, looking for a fine life close to the wilderness, but at the same time surrounded by the comfort of concrete. The culture of parties and other social gatherings there was the real deal, attracting people from other towns in Outset.

It was, perhaps, natural for a partisan movement to start somewhere around a city like that. Young people were eager to join the battle. Klein knew that, having fought alongside many humans before. Somehow, that particular hatred unleashed at the humans made them more united.

 

The withered wilderness, war-torn, soon ended, as Klein was approaching the city. Then, she immediately stepped off the road. Perhaps, the sight of the new queen’s flags, although torn, still hanging on and standing atop buildings, made the cat sith question the place’s safety? Or was it the convoy far down the road, passing through the city - definitely comprised of mogwai? Or…

Was it the ambush, set up ahead of her - and by the looks of it, humans were in charge. A simple eye, perhaps, wouldn’t spot the difference in landscape, but Klein got used to travelling on high alert. A head over there, behind the bushes. Someone’s hands, uncamouflaged, holding a weapon - sticking out of tall grass. Carefully placed mines on the road, painted and prepared specifically to blend in with the surroundings. A huge bush sometimes even moved on its own - a cunning and watchful sniper, no less.

Klein thought that it was quite fortunate the partisans were all facing the other way, captivated by the arriving convoy. What could this all mean - a small attack like this, in a world already conquered? Was it all just for sport? Was it to annoy the queen? To avenge those lost? Wondering, the cat sith lay down on the ground and burrowed herself among the grass and the dry dirt, watching and waiting for the event to unfold.

 

The convoy consisted of two trucks - apparently human-made, it must had been captured and re-purposed by the mogwai army - seemingly meant for just transporting cargo, yet each had a machine gun mounted on top. Weirdly enough, they were unmanned - the mogwai army relied on their natural powers most of all. The convoy was accompanied by three siren warriors, four cu and cat sith pairs and one phoenix sitting on the roof of the truck going in front. All of them were wearing purple colours and the yellow star, apparently the symbol of the new mogwai army. They looked odd, almost ridiculous, when compared to human military, yet they managed to carve their way towards victory. Gremory still wondered how that could had happened.

The sith pair in front was getting close to the trap set up by partisans. The feline, careless, stepped too far and triggered the mine, which bounced up and, after a short delay, exploded, launching shrapnel all around - a good portion of it hitting the mogwai in the face. It also hurt the cat sith’s partner, meanwhile the rest of the troops managed to conjure a shield facing danger to protect themselves.

The windshield on the truck in front cracked, the driver behind the wheel was out the question, no doubt. The mogwai, confused, kept turning back and forth, looking all around, trying to find where danger came from. The humans toyed around with them, played with their fear. The cat-cu sith pairs soon gathered and huddled  together, protecting themselves from all around, summoning a magic barrier. One of the siren warriors, enraged, was taking a deep breath - and Klein could see some of the partisans in the bushes do something to their ears. Then, the mogwai released a devastating shriek, no doubt aimed to harm the attackers - the possibilities of a siren’s voice were not to be underestimated. Moments later, however, his neck soon got hit by a precise sniper shot, which surely silenced him for good. The mogwai fighters were in disarray, arguing and screaming at everything around them… the humans remained silent and deadly.

Then, someone blew into a whistle - loud enough to be heard all around. Twenty figures arose from the tall grass, ten at both sides of the road. They were all dressed differently - some resembled human army soldiers, some were wearing casual clothes painted to camouflage them, some even wore armor presumably scrapped from siren warriors. They all were armed - with knives, swords, clubs and just some of them - with firearms. The tens split evenly into two small groups each, comprised of a gunner, two fighters, a soldier holding a shield in front of them and the last person staying behind, for some odd reason holding a bucket of water. Klein soon understood.

As another sniper shot pierced a siren’s head, the phoenix on top of the truck, now with enemies clearly all around, hurled flames at the human soldiers. As soon as a shield couldn’t take more damage, the soldier with a bucket would douse the whole group - or anyone set on fire - with water. As they got closer, two groups which hadn’t used their water yet, threw the buckets at the phoenix, and as soon as the mogwai was distracted, the gunners shot at the target - riddling the fiery warrior with bullets.

The remaining siren warrior attempted to attack one of the groups of humans, but was stopped when, seemingly out of nowhere, a figure jumped in front of her and deflected the attack, which looked as if they simply pushed the massive axe out of the way, as it was falling towards the humans.

“Traitor!” the siren managed to scream, in disbelief, as the attacker threw an uppercut and then several punches towards the warrior’s face. While she was disoriented, the deadly soldier grabbed one of her arms and twisted it, smashed it with an elbow strike, disarming the opponent. From a distance, Klein could see that they wore a mask on their face and a green scarf around the neck.

She had a feeling she knew who that was.

At the same time, the human assault groups got to dealing with the the sith duos, simply rushing towards them, swarming them, breaking through the barriers, clubbing, slicing, shooting, beating the mogwai to death with no mercy.

Klein felt both euphoria and disgust - seeing new mogwai army troops get killed in a battle against “mere humans” was ridiculously enjoyable, yet the sight itself was brutal, horrible. Perhaps, watching it happen seemed worse than doing it herself - she usually got lost in thought when fighting, not paying attention. She shook her head and blinked several times, trying to quit thinking about it all.

“We’re all going to…’hell’...” she muttered to herself, something she’d heard before from a human soldier. Yet again, nothing mattered.

 

When every mogwai soldier was either dead or captured, Klein slowly got up from the ground and decided to slowly approach the partisans. A part of them were gathering surviving mogwai, others were breaking into the trucks to see the cargo, and a couple were working on dismounting the machine guns from the vehicles. Smart.

Only the last siren and a tanuki remained, on their knees. While the warrior was cursing the partisans, the tanuki driver was trying to reason with their captors, promising all of his family’s savings, his salary and personal riches stashed away, and, really, the whole world - as long as that would guarantee freedom.

“Would you sell your comrade to live?” the masked soldier asked, pointing at the siren with a sturdy-looking cricket bat, “this one. Think hard about this.”

While the warrior protested, the tanuki actually took time to think, sweating and shaking violently.

“N… no. No. I’d have to pay extra. Her life ain’t enough,” the tanuki whispered, unable to talk normally from fear almost paralyzing his body.

“You’re damn right. They didn’t spare the lives of citizens of Aeros, did they? A dirty, worthless animal. They’re not worth a single yuan... you’re a good tanuki. Observe, and remember this,” the soldier said, raising the cricket bat above their head, then slamming it on the siren’s face again, and again, and again. Only moans of pain, the hard-hitting impact and the tanuki whimpering could be heard, as the partisans kept working on the cargo, silent.

“Oh damn! Oh shit! Please, please, I promise you, I won’t ever forget it if you let me go!” the tanuki cried as he saw the siren let her last breath out.

“Whatever. Won’t be easy, though. But that’s for our safety. Just make sure you tell the story well enough it makes everyone shit themselves, if they find you.”

 

The partisans grabbed and tied the tanuki up, then blindfolded him and left him sitting next to one of the trucks. The masked soldier walked away, and saw Klein approach. As soon as Gremory felt their eyes met, she raised her only hand up in the iar.

“Don’t shoot. You know me, don’t you?”

The partisan team leader - that’s what Klein presumed they were - drew a weird-looking pistol from their belt and approached the cat sith in haste, the weapon raised and aimed at her.

“Don’t shoot. I’d like to help. I’m armed, but I don’t mean to harm any of-” Gremory was beginning to say, as she saw the partisan squeeze the trigger. A dart flew and got stuck in her neck, injecting her with something.

“Sorry ‘bout this. Trust, but verify. Don’t freak out. You’re just falling asleep,” Klein heard the soldier talk to her, as she felt weaker and weaker. The last thing she saw was the odd mask - which looked like a tanuki’s face painted on it. The partisan turned to their comrades and yelled, “bag it all! As much as you can! We’re going home. Help me carry this one!”

They looked at Klein and pat her on the shoulder a couple of times, as her vision was becoming darker.

“Welcome back, Klein.”

 

My dear Eve. I wonder how many of our friends managed to escape. I wonder how many of them didn’t experience another war, another loss, more suffering. Every familiar face I come across is as familiar as it gets, yet so tortured deep inside. No wonder some of them would prefer to wear a mask. My dearest Eve. You’re so far away, please don’t forget about me.

 

The smell of tea and fried mushrooms. The electrical hum of the dim lights above. Scribbling of a pencil. The soothing sound of guitar strings being pulled somewhere away. Chatter. Klein took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was in a room with several empty beds. It seemed as if a lot of effort was put into making this place look as sterile as possible, the walls were bare concrete, the floor was freshly mopped, people in beds rested underneath blankets. Yet it was no ordinary hospital, that was for sure.

“You’re finally awake, Gremory,” a familiar voice spoke up.

Klein could hardly believe it.   
“Stolas? Is that really you?” she tried to stand up, but felt weak in her knees.

“Who else would be dumb enough to stay on this planet? Welcome, Klein. Do you remember how you got here?” Luca asked, still writing something nearby.

“No. I was put to sleep.”

“Good. Won’t have to test that memory-erasing thing, then. Not that it works, anyway. I tried,” she sighed, “tried to make myself forget that disgusting mushroom dish today.”

“Look, Stolas, I’m eternally grateful, but can you help me off the bed?” Klein said, groaning, slowly moving her legs, both of which felt numb.

She heard Luca move, while sitting on a chair, closer to her bed. Soon, her funny face with the big glasses was hanging above Klein. She looked just as she used to before the war, the only difference being a noticeable black armband with a white circle containing an upwards-pointing arrow in it, possibly the partisan movement’s symbol. Her glasses also looked a bit darker in colour, and the weird charm hanging from her neck was gone, a vest with a red cross painted on it protecting her chest now. She smiled in her usual funny and creepy way.

“You gotta rest a little bit. And I have to run a couple of final checks on you. So far, it seems, you are who you claim you are,” Luca said, scratching Klein behind the ear playfully.

“What do you mean. Oh. Wait. You already had to deal with the… kunekune?”

“Absolutely. You guessed it. It first happened quite a while ago, though. A mogwai and a human, pacted, tried to join our force, but we sensed something was off. They almost got all of us under control. Shep managed to expose them, and beat both of them to death when they tried to escape. A shame, really, I almost found one of them pretty cute, to my tastes. Before she had her head smashed in by a club,” Luca chuckled, touching Klein’s face and chest, checking her all around, smelling, looking and listening in, “You seem fine. It’s such a breath of fresh air when your patient isn’t a human. They’re resilient and adaptive, but some of them just… carry so many illnesses within they don’t even know about. Every single one feels like a puzzle I need to solve - it’s interesting, so interesting it makes me go just… crazy, but it also gets really exhausting. Wonder what would happen if xothians never existed. Bet these guys would form some terrible empire, or something.”

“Are you about done drooling over humans?” Klein asked, furrowing her eyebrows, “Let me go, Stolas.”

“I can drool over you, if you’d like that.”

“What?”

“Nothing. You may get up as soon as your legs snap out of it.”

Soon enough, Klein managed to slide off the bed and stand up tall, stretching her arms and legs, and her neck. She looked down at Luca, who was still sitting down on a chair. She looked as silly as usual - yet now sported rather practical outfit under her lab coat, with trousers and sturdy army boots. Klein leaned in closer and whispered:

“I wouldn’t mind. I’ll check on you later, when everyone goes to bed, right?” she let a breath out on Luca’s ear, then stepped away and winked at her, smiling, mischievous. She could see Stolas blush under her huge glasses.

“Out of my office, stupid cat!”

 

Klein laughed, pushing a metal door open and leaving the room. Seems like the partisans hid in a bunker of sorts - the walls around were all grey, all the same, sometimes decorated with a poster or two - some from old, better times, some from war - showing off their menacing symbol and calling to resist the mogwai rule. Klein found herself in the living room of sorts, chairs, stools, cushions placed all around, as partisans rested, talked  to each other, enjoying a meal. The fried mushrooms she’d smelled earlier. One of the humans passed by with a bowl of those in his hands, and suddenly offered them to Klein:

“You hungry, big fella?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

“Suit yourself. Won’t be any left by the end of the day,” he said, stuffing his mouth and walking off.

They needed it more than she did. Klein took a seat on the floor, pressing her back against the cold concrete wall, sighing. This place didn’t feel like home at all - at least to her. To humans all around her, apparently, it was home now. They all waited for something. Soon enough, someone walked into the room, holding a pretty rough-looking, worn acoustic guitar. They sat down in front of everyone else and waved, greeting everybody.

It was a young woman, dressed in a most likely scavenged human military uniform, coloured dark green, with the partisan movement patch sewn onto the shoulder. An orange turtleneck with white stripes was underneath, and an orange stripe was tied around a sturdy-looking combat helmet on her head. White strands of hair were poking from under it, mostly covering her eyes. Klein immediately recognized her then, especially after noticing a little funny patch attached to the uniform, which back in the days - the peaceful days - was decorating this girl’s cute beanie. She was none other than Patch Godunov, the conjurer of Luca and Shep. Everyone clapped softly as she prepared her guitar.

She started off by playing a random tune, just pulling the strings and getting everyone in the mood. Some were tapping their feet, shaking and tilting their heads to the rhythm. The main course began when Patch changed the tune and began singing. It was a slow, dragged-out song, going at its own pace. When not singing, she was just pulling the strings, running her fingers on them, breaking into a violent, loud sequence of sounds. Some partisan stood up and lit a cigarette that she was holding between her lips. Klein heard others sing along, and she tried to, as well, despite not knowing words. They won today, but would they win again?

 

_ Born on Solum, just like the rest of you, _

_ I wouldn’t know my time was due. _

_ They came over to our homes, _

_ The rest won’t be in history tomes. _

 

_ I lived my life and just didn’t know _

_ I had to repent for something long ago _

_ My father did, and his father had done. _

_ To meet revenge, I’d be the one. _

 

The way she played became more intense as she sung even louder, almost yelling, the pain in her voice striking Klein deep, all the way to the core. The chorus was repeated again and again, until everyone, including Gremory, were singing along.

 

_ Heartless beasts, controlled by fear - _

_ They marched on, and it was clear, _

_ The end is near, our time was stolen _

_ They’ll die in Outset, we’ll die on Solum. _

 

Soon, the melody calmed down as Patch was back to the random melody routine, passing the time. Someone sat next to Klein. The masked partisan. Still in the same clothes - the same scavenged uniform, decorated with the movement’s symbol and some badges in form of leaves, with the addition of the green scarf and the peculiar-looking mask. Klein also noticed her brown hair cut very short.

“Shep.”

“Klein.”

The tanuki raised her mask just a bit, only her mouth visible. She smiled, showing off her teeth - some of which were missing, no doubt lost in some fight. Then, she pulled it back on, covering her whole face.

“You like the place?”

“One of the only places worth my time on this planet, I suppose. The rest is… dead. Empty,” Klein muttered, watching Patch play the guitar in the distance.

“Yeah. You’re not here to actually help us, are you? I can feel it. That’s alright, though. What are you looking for? Don’t worry about it. You and Eve helped me enough in the past. I’ll return the favour,” Shep said, bringing her arm up and wrapping it around Klein’s shoulders, pulling her in closer. It felt warm, and friendly, and kind. Klein sighed.

“I need Eve. I can’t find her. Have you seen her?”

Shep was thinking for some time, mumbling something to herself.

“No. But someone might know. There’s a lot of people here, from all over. Us humans, mostly, but some mogwai too. Have to run them through checks all the time, though. Yorshk employed a bunch of these damn agents to hunt us down,” Shep explained, still sitting really close to Klein. She had missed her, despite they never talked as much. And Klein noticed something about the way the tanuki spoke. She decided not to question it.

“They got one of the Sand Bar Museum’s curators. Managed to save her,” Gremory said, sighing as she remembered the bizarre battle.

“Holy shit. Must have been tough. They latch onto brains, like, with no effort. Heard that’s what Yorshk taught them personally.”

“Disgusting practice.”

“Yeah.”

 

Patch began playing louder, again, and broke into a song, soon after announcing:

“This one is for all the brothers and sisters who got killed by the bloody queen. This one is for all of us who are still breathing and fighting. This one is for all of humanity still here on Solum, not afraid to bleed, cry, scream, curse, hurt, kill, destroy on their way to freedom. We will make their life a nightmare for what they’ve done to our lives. Let’s go.”   
And she sang.

 

_ I never held a gun before _

_ It feels so heavy, so much more _

_ Than what my mom would tell me I would do. _

 

_ Just point the piece and squeeze the trigger _

_ Another dead, the guilt grew bigger, _

_ My heart kept bleeding, setting mind at peace. _

 

The partisans eagerly threw their fists in the air, singing along.

 

_ Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I wasn’t born a killer _

_ But I will surely end _

_ Every single bloody scumbag _

_ Who set eyes on my land. _

 

_ The bloody queen will never rule on Solum _

_ As long as I can breathe _

_ And as for now, turn up the volume, _

_ ‘cause I will never leave! _

 

_ We will never give up! _

_ We will never shut up! _

_ We will never stop! _

_ Until our bodies drop! _

 

The music kept going on, the sound of it gradually becoming more and more messed up as Patch’s hands began shaking. She quickly shifted back to the calm melody to play in the meantime, visibly breathing heavily.

“Don’t be all shocked, Klein. We are all damn happy to be here, even if we got this huge, large fuckin’ wound bleeding across our hearts. To some this is home. To others, like me, this place is duty, a promise. As long as I know my sweetheart is safe, far away from this stupid planet, I can keep going. And that’s why I’ll help you, as much as I can, to find Eve,” Shep said, rubbing Klein’s shoulder with her hand.

“You’re most generous, Shep. So… your, erm. Sweetheart. Was aboard Tenebro?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Klein told Shep the story behind the ship’s departure from the planet. The tanuki seemed on edge and worried, until it was revealed to her that one of the curators almost sacrificed her life to save everyone else. She nodded, again and again, smiling to herself under the mask, chuckling.

“I’ll tell Patch to write a song about her. That’s some good shit. Bless that girl.”

For the rest of the evening, they shared their stories with each other - the tales of wandering, fighting, defending and attacking, protecting and punishing, hurting and getting hurt. Klein didn’t get to talk to Patch - the girl seemed so absorbed in the music and the crowd, up until the point she was too tired to go on, and simply left. Shep told Gremory that ever since the war broke out, Patch refused to leave the planet and the citizens of Otecho. She almost became a special kind of ideological leader among the partisans, while Shep took care of the operations. Patch was the heart, Shep was the mind, but the heart got so much more troubled by it all, the war cutting deep into the young girl. Her speeches and songs, however, became even more powerful, driving others to never give up.

 

The sleepy chatter all around. The buzzing of dim lights above, some of them turned off to preserve some energy for later. People dragging their chairs and cushions away to wherever their sleeping spot was. The faint cries in some corner, of a broken heart. And tired laughter somewhere else, as people were going to sleep. Two soldiers were discussing the night guard duty, flipping a coin to see who would have to stay up for the first half of the night.

Klein got up from the floor, yawning. It was no use trying to ask around today - everyone was exhausted after the battle. Tomorrow, she would learn more and keep looking for her conjurer.

 

As for now…

She gently opened the door to the infirmary. Luca, sitting at her desk, jumped up, hearing the door creak.

“Oh. What do you want, Gremory?” she asked, clearly somewhat annoyed at the intrusion.

Klein walked in slowly, not in a hurry whatsoever, closing the door behind herself carefully to avoid making too much noise.

“Oh, you know,” she rolled her eyes around, “just wondered if you’d check the scar on my face. Don’t want some nasty infection.”

Luca let out a sigh, motioning her hand towards a bed where Klein had woken up earlier.

“What would you ever do without me. Sit down, stupid cat…”

Klein did as she was told, and sat on the edge of the bed, watching the gyochu clumsily shuffle closer to her in a chair, making sure she was high enough to inspect the cat sith’s face.

She grabbed Klein’s face and held it firmly, staring at her nose and cheek, following the trail of the scar on it.

“Yeah, you’re gonna die in like 3 days or something. Pretty sure you got infected with a rare case of Dumbass-That-Bothers-Me-For-No-Reason. A shame, really, to see someone so handsome leave us, so young,” Luca said, sneering. The wound was clearly treated before, and quite well.

 

Klein nuzzled up against Luca’s hand which rested on her face and licked it her fingers briefly, playfully, looking into her eyes - or, more likely - into her own reflection in Luca’s glasses.

“Did you make the glasses darker to seem cooler, Stolas? You’re so silly.”

“Shut up!”

“Take them off. I wanna see your eyes.”

Luca’s core froze for a moment and then warmed up once again, trembling. She took the glasses off, nervously, and spent a little while to put them in a case and leave them carefully on top of the desk, before looking back at Klein. It seemed as if all her cockiness melted.

“Pretty.”

“Shut u-u-u-up… uh.”

Klein stood up, and grabbed Luca by the side, dragged her up from her seat and made her sit on the edge of the desk. Stolas didn’t even notice she herself was playing along, carefully sitting on top, considering Klein had only one arm. It didn’t matter. She squeaked, surprised, and also lost one of her boots, which slid off her foot in the process. It fell onto the floor quite loudly.

“Be… be quiet, you stupid-”

Gremory leaned in and planted a kiss on Luca’s neck, nuzzled against it, bit it and licked it. The doctor was breathing heavily, as she wrapped her arms around the cat sith, pulling her in closer.

“You may stay here,” she said, sliding her hands down Klein’s shoulders and diving under the poncho, ‘disarming’ her, slowly, detaching the belts and holsters underneath. 

In no other time would Klein allow someone to do that. This was an exception. Reaching out towards Luca, she slowly unfastened the protective vest around the doctor’s chest.

All of it slowly slid and dropped to the floor. Luca so nervous her hands were shaking, was trying to unbutton Klein’s shirt, while the cat sith’s lips were so close to her ear, whispering something so sweet and pleasant, that her face turned as red as a beetroot.

 

Deep down in the bunker hideout, everyone was busy fighting to pay more attention to their skilled medic. Patch and Shep were way too much absorbed in their memories and troubles, while Stolas was at peace with herself. She realized she’d never escape what she had done before and what she was doing then. Klein was the same. In the war, they were out of place - not fighting for a cause, but something of their own. They acknowledged the fate of others, yet never let it impact or trouble them more than enough.

Klein realized she had forgotten to ask about that poison that saved her life in a fight with werewolves, days ago. Now shirtless, she stared down at Stolas, who was squirming in anticipation, smiling in a playful, but sincere way, almost adorably awkward. Where was she, again? What was it all about? She felt the doctor’s hands trail up her sides. Warm hands, touching her in a way so eager and obscene. She took her time to watch as Luca latched onto her. Klein stroke the doctor's messy teal-coloured hair, smiling - either to herself, or to the one she was with.

"Stop thinking about stuff and start thinking about me," Luca grumbled, glancing up at Klein. She responded with a kiss, and with her hand sliding under the woman's shirt, making her squeal, muffled.

 

All will be coated in lies anyway. They were there, others were not. If they lived long enough to tell, they’d surely be merciful enough to spare others the true details. If they didn’t make it, they would ‘meet in Hell’. At the time, it felt just right.


	7. 7 - The Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.  
> It was very difficult to write this chapter, I had to rewrite some parts a couple of times. Hopefully, it gets the point across.

Dear Eve. Our reunion was predicted. I’m coming. I’m getting closer to you, I can feel it. I’m not afraid of anything. Except losing you. Yet, I don’t know what to do when we get there. Is there any way we could survive? Win?

 

“Br-r-r-r-reakfast ready! Get your lazy asses up! Up! Br-r-r-r-r-reakfast time!”

Klein woke up. The smell of fried mushrooms. The lights as dim as they had been before the night. Time was meaningless to everyone.

“Someone, just… shoot me. Kill me now. I can’t endure another day of these mushrooms,” Luca grumbled to herself, angrily writing something down. She was all dressed up and proper.

“Hey,” Klein said, sitting up in bed. She still had no clothes on. Luca hissed and looked away, somehow embarrassed.

“Put something on already, I had to pretend you were sick, and all, damn it. You know you don’t have to actually wear human clothing?”

“Well, you don’t really have to eat human food,” Klein said, hanging off the bed to pick up her clothes. She lazily dressed up, yawning and stretching in the process, “Yet, you do.”

Luca rolled her eyes and got back to writing.

“Get out, please, you’re affecting me in a very negative way, Gremory.”

Klein carefully attached and strapped all of the holsters to her shirt and belt underneath, then checked whether all of her weapons were in place. Despite the complaints, she could see Luca stare at her the whole time, thinking the cat sith didn’t notice.

Before she left the infirmary, Klein had leaned in and kissed Luca’s ear. She had to quickly retreat as several sharp pencils were thrown at her and screeching could be heard behind.

 

Everyone was already up and having a fine time in the main room of the bunker, sitting and lying around, enjoying their modest breakfast. Klein was soon approached by Shep, who offered her a portion to snack on.

“I have some people who want to talk to you. Let’s discuss this over a meal,” she said, motioning her hand over to the corner of the room, where two people had already been sitting and waiting for them to join.

 

They took a seat in front of the two partisans. Shep pointed at one of them with her hand.

“This is Justine. She’s one of our finest fighters. Made her way here from Snowver. Apparently, as soon as the war started, she decided she’d help us here overseas. Isn’t that right, Justine?” Shep spoke up, clearly proud of the soldier.

“That is right,” the woman responded, nodding. She had a very strong Snowverian accent.

Her blue hair, cut shorter one one side, made her stand out among others in the room, too. She also wore goggles, a common sight for Snowverian hunters - at least back in the good days it was. Justine was wearing a grey set of combat armour, with a light purple scarf tied around her neck. She smiled to Klein, quite politely and friendly, and spoke up.

“I have reasons to… think you’re looking for your conjurer, if I say this correctly? I do not have that information - exactly - but I have something that might interest you. There are rumours of a dragon roaming somewhere above Froxeter Forest. The people here do not believe us, but ever since our dear Kon left to rule the Den, a prophecy was brought to the people by a dying cetus. He spoke of a Snowverian dragon rider that would lead our people into battle with the Mogwai,” the woman was telling the story, smiling warmly all the way through, apparently quite fascinated with the events.

“I’m sorry - your accent… you want to tell me you have reasons to assume that Kon Verrine is alive?” Klein said, leaning forward a bit, furrowing her eyebrows in disbelief.

“Why, yes, of course. I doubt there’s any other dragon. It has to be our Kon. No doubt, she’s looking for a worthy dragon rider! She was probably hiding. Dragons are resilient.”

Klein rubbed her forehead, thinking. In a way, Kon surviving the coup was great news. On the other hand, it meant nothing - they were still fighting against swarms of Den mogwai, an overwhelming force. Unless the prophecy was true.

“So, the Snowverians are all fine?” Klein asked, looking up at the woman.

“I don’t know, since I’ve left the place. But Snowver is not as primitive as you might think. In events such as this, all hunts are called off, and Snowver mobilizes completely, and arms itself with our finest weapons, ones meant for fighting, not hunting. In a way, Snowverians have a good chance of destroying Mogwai. I came here because I wanted to enjoy hunting the old way, again.”

“Then why haven’t you helped properly when they invaded first?!”

“They invaded your land, not ours. And you all take us for freaks anyway, called us killers. Look where your weakness took you,” Justine said, pointing at Klein.

“Get this finger out of my face, before I rip it off your hand. I don’t want to fight you.”

“Neither do I. I don’t particularly care for anything but the hunt. Forgive me for this. It’s a bit hard to talk.”

Shep chuckled uncomfortably.

“Justine, I think they needed some help in the armory. Won’t you help? Thank you, bud.”

The Snowverian hunter got up, said her goodbyes and left. Klein sighed and growled angrily.

 

“Up their own asses with their stupid hunt, and legends, and everything,” Gremory muttered, rubbing her face with her hand.

“That’s quite shocking, you know, I had dinner with this lady so many times, and she never told me Snowver could turn into a brick and wait for a magical dragon rider to lead them into battle,” the other woman spoke up.

“Klein, let’s set the differences aside for a bit. Here’s Bonnie, she’s our most treasured marksman,” Shep said, giggling just slightly, “you probably never noticed her there.”

“Ah, you were the live bush out there, then. Good shooting,” Klein said, smiling.

“Thank you, ma’am, you’re making me blush. It’s what I do.”

She was a bit shorter than the Snowverian warrior, dressed in a dark green coat with big beige buttons, a small partisan patch was sewn onto the collar. Her hair, dark red, was a bit messy, hanging from under a camouflage boonie hat. The woman’s light brown eyes were calm, and almost did not blink while she spoke.

She didn’t blush. More than half of her face was covered in burn scars.

“I have other news for you. Your conjurer, Eve Staccato, she’s the one with the cute ponytails, brown hair, right?” she asked, motioning her hands near her own head, ‘showing’ the hairstyle to Klein.

“Yes… that’s her,” Klein nodded, smiling widely. She loved Eve so much, and the woman describing the girl in such a positive manner made her feel better.

“Well, yes, I’ve seen the girl. Aeros, maybe past Aeros. What’s that other town… erm. Solburg. Yeah. Pretty sure she was there while our army was still around, and she was arguing about something with some girl, and there were some mogs, I guess she was trying to get them a ticket off the planet or maybe to some safer place. I was just visiting the shop and looking for a place to stay there ‘cause my doomsday shelter collapsed,” the woman told her story, sometimes making long pauses, thinking, trying to remember.

“Where do you think she’d be?”

“Doubt she’d run away. Doubt she’d leave the area, either. All I’ve heard about her is that she’s stubborn as hell, and will finish something she starts. I heard rumours from many people of a conjurer still roaming and protecting people, even after the army was… out of the game.

Klein rubbed her chin.

“How could she survive for so long, alone?”

“Well, I don’t know, ma’am, there’s many things we didn’t know or still don’t know. See, turns out the blue-haired pricks are all comfy on their island, I don’t know, ‘cause we thought they were just smelly poachers, turns out they had been researching doomsday weapons to clap the world between two palms whenever they want. Or something? Maybe your girl is also pretty strong. Have some faith. Maybe she’s not alone?”

Gremory shrugged, and sighed, looking down.

“Maybe. I… don’t know. Do you think she still needs me?”

Silence. Shep decided to slip away from the conversation and tend to her own business. Bonnie seemed genuinely concerned, however, and didn’t find it awkward, but simply worrying.

“Well… if we take the blue-haired broad’s story into account, there are many things you could do. Could go find the dragon, maybe become that rider, and then lead Snowverians into battle, shut the Den up. Maybe find the dragon rider and convince them to hurry the hell up. Maybe your girl is trying to reason with that living legend on her own, who knows. You have two pieces of information, rumours, yet all point to sort-of the same way - you gotta go North. If you get this war’s second act in motion, it might… give us an actual reason to fight. Otherwise, we’re all here just to kill. Everyone here knows that. We kill for sport, maybe as an act of revenge.”

 

They said their goodbyes, for now, and walked away. Klein couldn’t deny it - such rumours would be the most she’d get out of partisans, if she looked for directions. Everything felt pointless. She could try and help them, by finding Eve, trying to save the world again, yet… did she want that?

She never wanted anything, ever. Back in the day, when they stumbled upon Nyx in the forest, she prayed to all gods imaginable, hoping it was just a coincidence, hoping it wouldn’t escalate. Eve persisted, and persuaded Klein to follow, fight alongside her. Endure so much. Perhaps, it was best to never find Eve, if she would just toss Klein’s efforts to protect her aside, and rush into uneven battle again, to die?

She didn’t want to lose Eve. In any way. Klein thought it’d be a better idea to talk to Patch before leaving the bunker.

 

Patch was in one of the rooms with the bunk beds, sitting down and writing in a notepad. A new song, perhaps?

“Patch. Thought I’d talk to you. I have to leave soon,” Klein said, taking a seat next to the girl.

“Be my guest. Sit down. Relax, while you can. You need rest, like everyone else. You’re a brave warrior, we all are, we’re gonna make ‘em all pay, I’m sure of that,” Patch said, not even looking away from the notepad. Not that she could see anything with the bangs hanging in front of her eyes like that.

“It’s not about that, really. I’m looking for Eve. Going to find her soon, I hope. I can tell her you said hi.”

“Eve?” the musician asked, squeezing a little smile.

“Yes. Yes, Eve. You know, my conjurer. It’s my duty,” Klein responded, and she sounded proud.

“Absolutely! Yes. It’s our duty to keep those we love safe. Those bastards from the Den took everything away. You’re lucky to have Eve by your side, …” Patch eagerly agreed, yet paused at the end, and didn’t finish.

“So, what’s the new song about?”

“Oh, about a brave pilot who saved so many lives on a spaceship. A mogwai, but that’s OK. All songs are good as long as it’s about our common cause. We need more people like her,” the musician said, dreamy, scribbling on paper with a pencil.

“Ah, right. That’s great. You sing really well, Patch. Even songs… like these. Times change, I guess?”   
“Yeah, this fucked up war, man. We all do our part. Fuck war.”

“Yes. Yeah, you're right about that. So… I suppose I’ll go soon. It was nice to meet you again, Patch. Take care. And stay safe. Eve and I will come visit after all’s well. You know,” Klein said, relieved, standing up. She was slowly walking out of the room.

“May be **the first** , but not the last time we meet, soldier! That’s the spirit!”

 

She stepped out of the room. She raised her hand to cover her mouth, took a deep breath through the nose. She still wanted to talk to Luca before going.

 

“So, how long has it been… like that?”

“Three weeks into the war or so, I’d say.”

“I can’t imagine how this must feel.”

“You don’t want to imagine.”

 

Luca didn’t let Klein go, even after a while of sitting together, next to each other, on a cold, clean bed, just staring into nothing. As soon as Gremory tried to leave, Luca tugged at her sleeve.

“Stay a bit more. Please.”

“Hey. What’s wrong?”

“Don’t leave, just yet. If you… if you leave, you will remember, right? You’ll remember me. Eve probably remembers you, and you remember her.”

Felt like something stabbed her core, so violently she barely managed to keep her posture.

“Stupid. I’ll never forget. Remember that poison you gave me? Saved my life once. I promise - that’s how it went down. I owe you.”

“You’re lying… what if something happens to you, like that, or, I don’t know!”

“If you don’t know, then you don’t know. I’m telling you what I know - and that’s… are you…” Klein was at a loss of words when she saw Stolas cry. She wrapped her arm around her and pulled her in close. She pressed the side of Luca’s head to her own chest, and covered the doctor’s other ear with her hand.

Stolas could hear the faint pulse in Klein’s core. Everything else was quiet. She could hear Klein speak to her again, and again, and again.

 

Some while later, Stolas handed Klein a small plastic vial with a cap on top.

“When the time comes… if you will be in pain, in great pain, struggling, please, take this. And remember.”

Gremory kissed Luca’s forehead, froze that way for a while, before accepting the gift and standing up.

 

That evening, she was leaving. Patch, Shep and some partisans were saying their goodbyes. The two in the crowd, the musician and the leader, seemed so familiar, but so distant.

Bonnie helped Klein leave the bunker and followed her outside. She was carrying a backpack and was dressed in a uniform, partially camouflaged with foliage, yet not as intense as she was back during the ambush. She lit up a cigarette and followed Klein.

“Sorry, ma’am, I was instructed to escort you outta here. I know a good shortcut through this mess,” she smiled, crooked, rolling the cigarette in her lips.

“That is fine… Thank you,” Klein said, bewildered, exhausted and confused. She trailed behind the marksman, deep in thought. Smoke was escaping the woman’s mouth, leaving clouds behind, which Gremory walked through, feeling the scent. 

 

“Bonnie, don’t you feel that nothing makes sense? Sometimes, there’s just… too much. And you wish nothing ever happened? I think I found myself in a situation where I’m not sure of anything, anymore,” Klein spoke to the soldier, slowly drifting towards a troubled monologue.

“Means you’re alive, ma’am. We feel the best when we don’t think and don’t feel like we exist. The second we notice it, it all just goes to shite. You realize you live in hell, and happiness is either in the past, or in the future, and never stays forever. I myself seek death, for I have nothing to live for. You do, though, so hold onto that. Maybe you’ll be happy and prove the guy who said all that wrong. ‘cause I read that in a book, and all. Old world stuff,” the marksman said, stopping for a bit and turning around. She extended her arm forward, holding a pack of cigarettes in hand - she hit a finger on the bottom of it to make one of the cigarettes pop up.

“Thank you.”

Klein accepted the cigarette and put it in her mouth. Bonnie lit it up and smiled, again.

“Good. Now let’s keep walkin’. Don’t wanna get caught near the base. You know, my best advice would be just following your objective, brains turned off. Worry about yourself, otherwise you’ll go crazy quite fast.”

 

Klein kept walking, looking down on the ground. She never let the cigarette out of her mouth, the smoke trailing off its end kept getting into her eyes, making them squeeze out tears. Or, perhaps, she was crying anyway.

 

A brave heart and a core worth thousand souls.

A blue-blooded beast and a foretold hero.

Powers soon to be unleashed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter relied a bunch on dialogue and also featured a couple of characters I've added myself, which I hope you don't mind all that much. Sometimes someone has to say things a canon character wouldn't say, maybe. The setting in the chapter was also suitable to introduce someone like that, for several purposes.
> 
> Can't wait to write the next chapter and show you what happens next.


	8. 8 - The Prophecy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the new chapter. I hope you like it.  
> It's been a great challenge writing this one. A lot of ideas were moved around and combined, to make this. I really hope you find it enjoyable, as I did, while writing it.  
> I apologize for any spelling mistakes and such. Once again, I will try to fix them some time later.

Klein and Bonnie travelled as far as they could, following hidden paths the cat sith was not even aware off. Soon enough, they found themselves in the bright golden foliage of Froxeter. The forests, perhaps, were the only places left on this planet that felt calm. Unlike cities, or what’s left of them.

“Ma’am, I’d happily assist you on your journey, but I have this hunch that there won’t be much use for a simple sharpshooter. I guess you’ll be fine on your own?” Bonnie asked, fixing the strap on her shoulder which was attached to the sniper rifle.

“Yes… thank you. You’ve been most helpful, Bonnie. Please, tell others in the bunker that I’ll be back, with Eve, together. We’ll visit them,” Klein said, taking several steps past her guide, ready to leave.

“I’m sure our Patchy-girl will have a new song ready when you’re back. Don’t get shot out there, and best of luck. Make ‘em pay,” the sharpshooter said, raising and shaking a fist. She turned around, lit another cigarette and slowly followed the trail back home.

Klein looked back and watched her leave, thinking. Would all be remembered after it’s all over? The little people, tangled in war?

She moved on, the feeling within her core growing stronger - there was no doubt about it, Eve was still alive, and she was somewhere ahead. Not as far away as before. And she was… stronger.

 

A shadow passed over Froxeter.

Heavy footsteps ravaged the forest paths, determined.

The strongest heart, so warm, roamed this earth, encircled by the coldest winds.

The lost was looking for a home.

Froxeter would be the place for the powerful figures to meet.

 

It was sudden. Not the way she thought it would all happen. Cold air flew past the golden trees and reached her, freezing her limbs, crawling inside through her mouth, ears and nose. She was already marked, found out, by something far more powerful. She heard the crackling of yellow grass ahead, the howling winds, the chimes of ice-bound leaves falling onto the cold ground, shattering. Ahead of her stood none other than Nyx Ronove. The yellow scarf waving in the air.

Her eyes were two hateful chunks of ice, she emitted nothing but cold - Klein couldn’t even comprehend how powerful she’s become, the core emitting nothing but its elemental presence all around.

“Klein?”

“Nyx?”

They recognized each other. The memories arose from the depths of their cores and erupted, flowed outside, emotions suddenly taking control. Klein felt unstoppable killing intent coming from Nyx. Nyx outstretched her right arm as an unbelievably huge scythe materialised in it. Icy blue whirlwind arose around her, the ground turning into solid ice under her feet. Gremory did the best she knew - she reached for a human-crafted shortsword she had, unsheathed it and assumed her combat stance, breathing heavily, blood pumped back in forth through her body.

Two weapons met that day, two unstoppable machines born in war, ridden with old and fresh wounds, minds far, far from peace. A powerful mogwai with the strength of hundreds of souls stared down someone so insignificant compared to her, yet strangely frightening despite the weak look - Klein was as cold as Nyx was, not because of the mogwai nature and magic, but because of her way of life and the path she’s chosen. Nyx wasn’t ready to die, knowing she wouldn’t. Klein was ready to die again, again, and again, and again - no matter what, to achieve her goal.

They stood, for a good while, staring each other down.

“Come on!” Klein roared, taking one step forward, and screamed, pumping herself up for the fight, fearless.

The reaper moved forward, fast, almost flying over to Klein, the howling of wind and her scream combined into a deafening cry of vengeance, hatred and torment of many. Gremory felt it - the power contained within Nyx was harvested from other mogwai in the war. She couldn’t have gotten this strong otherwise.

Klein dodged the first strike, the deadly scythe passing above her head - the cat sith primed her weapon and tried to shove it right into Nyx’s side, yet a strong ice layer, formed at that spot, blocked the blow and broke Klein’s weapon. With a broken sword, she unexpectedly hit Nyx in the face, confusing her.

“You s-s-s… should have… remained d-dead…” Nyx whispered, recovering from the hit.

“Get out of my way!” Klein commanded, feeling light from a weird rush going through her entire body. “I searched for so long! Not to be killed by you! I’ll kill you!”   
“No! I will kill you, Gremory!” Nyx grabbed Klein with her free hand, squeezing the cat sith’s neck. Ice was slowly enveloping her, covering her skin.

“I’ll kill you! You should have rot in that prison!” Klein struggled to resist her opponent - but her comrade - as she grabbed her revolver and pointed it at the reaper’s face. She shot, again and again.

“You should have s-s-stayed dead on a battlefield… should have failed your m-m-m… mission for the old queen…” Ronove told her true nemesis, as she pictured her, her icy aura freezing every incoming bullet shot point-blank at her. It was all futile.

As the deadly cold reached her mouth and began crawling into her throat, Klein let her last scream out, full of anger, moving her every limb to break out of Nyx’s grasp. All she saw was the wintery wastes contained within Ronove’s eyes. There was no mercy. The reaper laughed, cold winds escaping her mouth.

 

“Stop,” a familiar voice ringed through their minds.

A single word made them both fall to the ground. Klein’s only arm felt numb, stuck in place. Nyx’s ice melted, and she felt pinned to the ground.

The forest clearing in which they fought was visited by an entity far stronger than both of them. Long white and blue coloured dress was teased by the now calm, warm Froxeter winds. She crossed the forest earth covered in golden leaves. An old staff was held by her, firmly, almost shining despite all the troubles it went through. The large green star on her clothes felt so familiar, yet so powerful at the same time. The same stars shone bright within her eyes, looking at both mogwai lying on the ground with nothing else but forgiveness and love. The white beret crowned her, reminding both of them of what they fought for, all these years.

One of them saw the hero and the lover lost many years ago. Another saw the beloved conjurer she’s been looking for so long. Both of them obeyed. Eve Staccato, dressed in what resembled her great-grandmother’s clothes (or, perhaps, was exactly them), strong as never before, stood above her mogwai, glad she managed to stop the fight in time.

“Stand up,” her voice sounded like the finest music, the most beautiful instruments playing at the same time, the ideal, the perfection. To both of them. They obeyed, once again, without even thinking about it.

Nyx hid her eyes in shame, looking down. Klein couldn’t take her eyes off the conjurer, tears flowing out and down her cheeks, without stopping. Her core was about to explode. Her heart was ready to stop once and for all, to immortalize this moment within her mind and soul. She finally found her.

“Klein… we’ve looked far and wide for you. We thought we lost you. I’m so sorry…”

She sounded odd. Almost unreal. Did war hurt Eve? Klein was ready to kill everyone, everything, to make sure Eve felt fine. Nothing mattered.

Another thought tortured Klein’s mind - was finding Eve worth it? Was she really in trouble? with Nyx this powerful, and all this might emitted by her own body…

“I needed you, Klein. Every day, I longed to see you, once again,” Eve answered her questions, reading her every thought. She was so soothing even Ronove was enraged no more, breathing steadily as she stood next to Gremory, “without both of you by my side, I feel so empty. Now I am complete.”

Her voice cracked. The tone dropped, as she mumbled:

“I-I missed you so much Klein… I was afraid I’d lose you… please don’t fight, both of you… please,” she begged, wrapping both of her arms around her mogwai, crying - so sad and heart-wrenching that both Nyx and Klein could not resist it.

It was fine to cry. It was a beautiful moment amidst the horrors they had to endure. A moment without hatred, without differences, without vengeance or grudges, guilt or accusations.

“I don’t know what’s happening anymore… I want to go home… I want to go back,” Eve said, her speech soon becoming gibberish as she tried to hold back tears, to no avail.

“Eve! D-don’t, d-d… don’t cry, don’t give up! I-...” Nyx yelled, holding onto her conjurer. She looked at Klein, and for a moment, the hundreds of years of hatred were seemingly gone, as they were united under their conjurer, “we are here. We…”

“We’re here, Eve. We’re together,” Klein ensured, sobbing and growling, still enraged - now by the pain of her loved one she had to witness. The human traits she’s gained were stronger than anything now. “We’ll keep you safe. I promise you. We’ll do anything. I’ll die for you. We’ll die for you.”

 

They kept talking, trying to contain themselves. It was all too much for a cold-blooded mogwai, filled with hatred for the past and fear for the future. Everything was overbearing for a mogwai hoping to become something more than what she was. The reunion made the conjurer happy, but struck her heart like nothing else did.

All three of them were relieved, but had doubts troubling them. All three of them had questions and answers, which were all shared in the most unique and sacred connection forming between their minds, sealed by the pact. It didn’t matter how long they had been away before they met each other in the golden Froxeter. A pact was forever. Their alliance could only end in death.

 

The silence.

The three sat among the grass and the leaves.

A brave heart. A cold core. A burning soul. All of them different, but united under one promise, and a common cause. They were now calm, eyes closed, frozen, as they talked to each other within their minds. Within that space, they were just the way they had been before the war. A funny girl full of hope and determination to save the world. A dangerous wisp, loyal to her very end, hoping to immortalize her love. A cat sith looking for ways to reclaim her honour and gain forgiveness, and protect the one she loves.

They cried more, and laughed, and rejoiced, and mourned. They all knew this wouldn’t last forever. Eve and Nyx were running out of time, and hoped to find the surviving true queen of the Den, whom they assumed to be the dragon rumoured to roam the skies above Froxeter. Klein would help them achieve their goal.

 

Soon, they hit the road, together, ready to decide this world’s fate once again - as they thought.

They walked in silence, the sad aftertaste from the initial meeting of theirs slowly vanishing. There was no time to dwell too much on things that were supposed to be left in the past.

“Eve… why the outfit?” Klein asked, a bit shy and afraid to even speak up.

“Ah… I’m sorry. It must be weird to you. It’s the war of old wounds, as everyone put it. War of broken promises. War of betrayal…” Eve tried explaining, but got lost in her own words, blushing, ashamed.

“W-when those bastards s-see Eve Xin coming at t-t-them, they’re gonna s-s-shit themselves.”

Klein laughed really, really loudly. So did Eve, still ashamed, her face all red. Nyx looked away, annoyed.

“I-it’s also about h-humanity. She’s the ambassador of war now, n-not peace. T-there’s no peaceful solution to this, n-not with the current queen.”

Klein wiped her eyes with her sleeve, chucklin so much she teared up. She was so exhausted from the horrors she'd experienced before, that this banter seemed like heaven to her.

“If you ask me, I’d just say Nyx likes me wearing this, and I don’t mind,” Eve said, smiling to herself.

Gremory looked back, still giggling.

“Oh heavens, Nyx, you’re… terrible. I cannot believe this.”

“Another word and I’ll freeze your tongue, G-g-gremory. And what about you? T-t-t… trying to look all sleek in your new outfit. You make no s-sense.”

“I’m joking. Nothing makes sense, not now, not in this damned war.”

They all could agree on that.

 

Deep down, Eve knew what it all meant. She was representing humanity, a dying species in the world of Solum. Eve Xin was the sign of peace Mogwai betrayed once before, and again this time. She was her successor, and she possessed something her great-grandmother never had - a grudge and the unstoppable will to fight for what’s right. Even with no humans on Solum, she’d fight to til her last breath to fulfill the goals of her vengeance. It was a weird, chaotic goal, although no less reasonable than the genocidal tendencies of the current queen.

Moreover, humanity was not over yet. They had a shot at making the Snowver prophecy come to life.

Eve reached for under her coat and pulled out a white mask - faceless, featureless, and put it on.

“As an ambassador in these times, I-I… I must be all of us, at once. Not just myself. There’s this unity between our people even the most advanced collectives of mogwai wouldn’t know. We’re united in pain.”

Klein kept walking, thinking hard, astonished by the way this war changed her beloved Eve. She seemed much more serious, a strong feeling of sorrow clinging onto her heart, but also moving her forward. Perhaps, she wasn’t ready to understand the depths of a human soul that far.

 

A large shadow was cast over them, and slid away.

“It’s her! We must hurry. There’s a clearing nearby,” Eve said loudly, running forward.

Klein tried to keep up, but felt a cold hand on her shoulder. Nyx pulled her over to herself and spoke to her, pressing her forehead against Klein’s.

“Listen t-t-to me. I don’t know what happened to you, or to us, but I still don’t t-t-trust you, first… and foremost. You will obey the conjurer and y-... you w-won’t get in my way. I hate you. B-but you are my sister, as w-we are united by this pact, a-and whether I like it or not, we work together. I…”

 

“Hurry. We’ve got company, you two,” they heard Eve’s voice in their heads. The two mogwai hurried over to the clearing. A field of golden grass.

Far away in the skies, a dragon was flying, waiting for a worthy challenger. On the ground, however, standing in tall grass, was their conjurer, dressed in white and blue, shining green star on her shoulder, the ancient staff carried over the time to aid her in this very moment. She was facing someone else standing in the distance.

A bulky, machine-like figure. It walked forward, parts of it moving, mechanically, emitting steam from the tiniest spots across its metal carcass. An warrior in blue armour, which looked like nothing the human military could provide to their soldiers. A suit of power armor, the choice of colours and the aura around it so familiar to all of them. It came closer, and closer, trampling all in its way, leaving a path of crushed grass behind it.

The helmet, blue, with fragments of light green, was stylized to look as if a pair of goggles were on it - whoever was inside was staring at them through those. Breathing heavily through a filtering component near the mouth area of helmet. A large shield could be seen attached firmly to the back of the armoured soldier, and a sword stuck to the belt.

A loud, booming voice spoke to them, amplified by the armour suit, no less:

“Eve Staccato. You, again. This is my destiny. Step aside, or be cut down. This time, I am far more powerful,” the person in armour said, raising her fists into the air, the suit glowing blue and green, emitting more and more steam and blowing hot air, the grass underneath pressed to the ground.

“Peculiar. Would you mind if we worked together?” Eve asked, yelling so she could be heard.

“As you wish, foolish girl.”

 

Nyx laughed.

“The s-s-s… stupid Snowverian doesn’t realize yet. Eve’s been… feeding off my p-p-powers all these days. Each core of our enemies re-re-... recycled and converted, passed on through me to her… nothing can stop her,” she said, looking at their conjurer in awe.

“You did this to her?” Klein asked, angered by such news.

“She wanted it herself. Said it’d be the only way to c-c-counter… the forces of the D-den.”

Klein closed her eyes, sighing heavily and thinking to herself. Even though Eve never needed her protection, after all, she needed Klein - her mogwai, her friend, her…

 

A strong wind made the small trees nearby bend. The grass was shaking, and all of them felt it - the large green dragon landed in the golden clearing of Froxeter.

The faceless ambassador gathered her strength. The warrior destined for greatness checked her status. All system nominal. The power within contained and ready to be used.

They stood, back to back, united.

“Nyx, immobilize the dragon. Klein, stand behind me and provide me with your strongest healing ability,” Eve ordered, and both mogwai had nothing to do but obey.

Meanwhile, the Snowverian warrior set her foot firm on the ground, and bent forward, ready to break into a sprint. She looked up, and kicked her feet, launching herself forward, grabbing the shield from her back.

“Ko-o-o-on!” she yelled, stomping the ground below her, tearing the golden grass out, throwing dirt all around, the heat emitted by the suit setting some of the foliage there on fire.

 

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. Kon was much, much larger than before - she looked menacing, enormous, powerful. Moving around, she even knocked several trees down, and turned the ground underneath her into brown and gold mush. She opened her mouth, ready to send a strong gust of wind towards the charging enemy.

Before it could reach and divert the Snowverian warrior from her goal, Nyx struck the ground with her scythe, turning it into ice - a large, thick wall of frozen snow growing between the dragon and the advanced fighter.

“Nothing will stop me!” the armoured one yelled, jumping up, the suit’s power propelling her upwards, helping her run up the frozen wall and jump further onto the dragon in front of her, but not before thrusting her down. The impact made her fall onto the mighty beast so hard it pinned Kon’s neck to the ground. It was so loud the whole forest seemingly was shaking with fear.

“Attack, now!” Eve ordered, moving forward, pointing her staff. Klein, standing behind, could feel enormous power collecting within her conjurer, ready to be unleashed.

Ronove dropped the ice wall, and the very moment that happened Eve casted a strong spell, a bright flash of light emitted from her staff blinded the dragon mounted by the Snowverian warrior.

She jumped off the dragon and punched it in the face, again and again, her punches thrusted forward even faster with all of the might produced by the power armor.

“Snap out of it! Kon! You hear me!” the warrior screamed. The dragon opened its large mouth, going to bite her in half, but with the strength she had, she managed to stop the jaws of the beast from crushing her, “I said… sto-o-o-op!”

“Nyx, freeze it!” Eve commanded, still slowly walking forward. Klein could feel that preparing a strong attack was quite difficult, and even painful for her conjurer - and the cat sith’s healing abilities and aura definitely helped sustain Eve in this fight. She wasn’t just attacking, she was trying to soothe the beast’s mind by expanding her influence, concentrating it.

Ronove was following the orders, and began spreading ice all below the dragon, freezing its feet to the ground, hoping to immobilize it.

Kon moved her head, shook it and made the Snowverian warrior drop to the ground hard, carving several holes in the grassy land before stopping. She then, with no struggle, broke out of the icy chains binding her limbs. Enraged, she sent another strong gust of wind towards her opponents - this time Eve and Klein.

The armoured fighter was just in time, and so was Ronove -  the dragon’s breath was stopped in front of them by the metal knight’s shield, Nyx’s magical powers and Eve’s shield cast in front of them. The ground all around their protection was torn apart and sent flying far, far away, creating a huge ravine.

“Would b-b-be easier if we just… tried to kill h-her…” Nyx said, gritting her teeth.

“No way. We came this far to fulfill the prophecy, we can’t just do that,” Eve said, furrowing her eyebrows under the mask.

“If she dies, you all too, will die, fools,” the metallic warrior confirmed.

 

“Your face. She can’t see it. Make her remember. Make her remember!” Klein suddenly realized, and kicked the Snowverian in the back with her foot, enraged, “if you’re the one, she needs to see you, not whatever this… armor you’ve got. Strength matters not!”

The kick didn’t even do anything to the knight, but she understood. She pressed something on the side of her helmet, the front part of it lifted up, exposing the warrior’s face.

“She’s my mogwai. I am… her conjurer,” Rain said, looking back at her allies, then at Kon, who was enraged, knocking down trees, tearing the ground apart.

She suddenly jolted forward and ran, again.

“Both of you, keep her alive! Help her get close to the dragon!” Eve ordered her mogwai, spinning the staff in her hands as she advanced forward.

As Rain ran forward, her will unstoppable, her body pushed forward, breaking all boundaries thanks to Snowverian wonders of technology, the others covered her from the sides. Nyx saw several trees hurled at the warrior, carried by strong winds, and managed to freeze and stop several of them, leaving just one large chunk of Froxeter fly towards Rain, who burst through it with ease, as if it was just a weak, mere obstacle.

Meanwhile, Klein tried to get the dragon’s attention the only way she knew how - she pulled out the revolver and shot multiple times, each bullet stopped or bouncing off Kon’s thick scales, yet making her strike a disgusted glance at the cat sith armed with a human weapon.

 

Rain, screaming, rushed forward and jumped once again, the suit’s thrusters activating, launching her towards the dragon. She latched onto Kon’s neck again and pushed her forward, out of the forest clearing down a hill, breaking numerous trees as both of them rolled down the hill, into the lowlands.

Eve and her mogwai hurried to the edge of the hill to see what happened. Below, they saw Rain staring Kon down as she wrestled with the dragon’s large jaws, again. She screamed her name, again and again, trying to awaken the memories within the seemingly mindless beast.

“I know you can hear me, stubborn dragon! Wake up! Wake up!”

Kon shook out of Rain’s grip for a moment and smiled, exposing all of her sharp teeth. The Snowverian warrior responded in style, sending several strong, harsh punches towards the dragon’s smug face, disorienting her.

“Together, with me!” Eve said, asking her mogwai to follow.

Nyx focused all of her power to summon a ice path in front of them to safely slide downhill to where the dragon and the warrior were in a standoff. When they arrived at the scene, Eve pressed one of her hands on the side of the dragon’s head.

“Nyx, lend me your power! Klein, sustain!” Eve ordered, the stars within her eyes shining bright. The mogwai obeyed and followed, the differences and grudges between them vanished - their conjurer needed them.

 

Feeling something penetrate her mind, the dragon roared, Rain’s suit barely sustaining the damage from the strong winds tearing all around her.

“Come o-o-o-on!” she screamed, pushing herself to the limit, wrestling with the dragon to keep its deadly jaw closed.

“Kon, listen to us! You… must help us! Please, Kon!” Eve yelled really loud, her voice too weak and worried to sound intimidating in any way. But she was convincing.

Klein looked at her, in awe, and despite the faceless mask covering Eve’s eyes, mouth, her cute cheeks and her funny eyebrows, she could see her - clear as day - so much in love with her. The war has tossed her around, torn her to pieces, but she still remained who she had been before - the most inspired, the most brave. Klein gathered all the strength within herself and transferred it to her conjurer, hoping to end the fight.

 

The dragon broke out and shoved all of them aside, flying up in to the skies, as high as possible… and, then, slowly began falling, shrinking in size. Soon enough, it was just Kon in her human form, plunging to the ground with immense speed.

“Damn it, Kon!” Rain stomped the ground, looked upwards as the visor of her helmet dropped down on her face again. The suit then launched her up and forward, towards her mogwai - still in the air. Everyone stood below, watching the warrior fly over to Kon and grab her, turn around and safely land on the ground near them. Exhausted, they both rolled over into a ditch full of dirt, grass and chipped wood. Rain took her helmet off and embraced her mogwai, almost crying, calling out her name.

 

They were all back together, reunited. Klein dropped to her knees, feeling weak, and two arms held her back up - Nyx and her beloved Eve.

“We can’t be arguing over things, anymore. Now we’re a team. And we’ll push all the way, til the very end. You hear me?” Eve said, holding both of her mogwai’s hands, “You are the strongest. The best. And the loveliest of all. Don’t leave me, ever again, both of you. And I will never let you go.”

 

They set up a camp in Froxeter, in one of the ravines made by the enraged Kon. She now was lying on a bed made out of leaves and soft earth, foliage, made by Rain. She never left Kon’s side and held onto her hand, sniffing, sometimes crying - but just a little bit, although sure her beloved mogwai was alive.

The rest decided not to interfere. Nyx was looking at Eve as Klein healed the conjurer’s wounds - although there weren’t many. She was way too powerful to be hurt now, and Gremory, internally terrified, could feel it.

“Nyx,” Eve said, turning her head to the reaper, “Could you leave me and Klein alone for a bit, please? I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. I haven’t seen Klein in a long time. Please, I hope you don’t mind?”

The reaper’s face twitched, a bit displeased, but the sound of Eve’s voice was all too soothing.

“Fine. I’ll go… g-g-get some firewood,” Nyx said, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking away.

“Make sure it’s dry, don’t freeze it! You can do it!” Eve said, a bit louder, hoping Nyx would hear.

“Y-yeah, s-s… sure.”

 

Eve took the beret off her head. The two cute pigtails popped out, and Klein felt something twist within her core. It felt so funny, but so soothing, to see Eve just as she remembered her. She wanted to say everything to her, but could only drown in remorse.

“Eve… I killed,” Klein said, holding onto Eve’s shoulder.

“We all did, Klein.”

“Eve… I made them suffer. I suffered. The pain. The wounds. The minds, corrupted...”

“Everyone suffered, Klein.”

“Eve,” Gremory said, the tears made her vision cloudy. She wasn’t talking, she was whimpering and hissing through her teeth, “I… almost died. And others died. I watched death, and I was afraid you would join them too.”

“I felt that way, without you.”

“Eve, I miss home so much. I missed you so much. Eve, I searched for you, everywhere… I found you. I thought I’d never find you...”

“And so did I, Klein. I… also searched for you.”

“E-e… e-eu… ve…” Klein broke down, crying so hard she couldn’t speak anymore. Eve held her tight, pressing her face against her shoulder.

“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry… I’ll never let you go, now, never again. You hear me?” the conjurer whispered to her loyal mogwai, shaking with sorrow, excitement, and happiness. They both felt happiness, but so twisted and remorseful.

“I…”

 

She saw it all. From the day they met, til this very moment. The times they cried, and laughed, and felt alone, and whole, left out and supported. The times when sun was shining bright, and the rain was freezing cold. The times of danger, and safety, the heroism and the simple things.

What did all of this mean? What did she expect? To save her conjurer from some mortal danger, some inexplicable death hanging over her?

Klein realized how foolish it all was. Eve didn’t need help. Eve didn’t need protection. Eve needed her - she needed Klein, her mogwai. But more than that, she needed the one she loved. And the one who loved her.

 

“I love you, Eve, so much. So much more,” Klein finally confessed. She stared into the conjurer’s eyes. Eve shamefully looked away.

“I-I love you too, you know…”

“No. I love you, Eve.”

“Oh… like that.”

 

They couldn’t talk anymore, as it was too much. Eve took Klein by the hand and lead her away from their camp, slowly, to the clearing nearby, and sat down with her, so they could look at the night sky above, together. It was the same, as ever. The only pure entity remaining in this world. The distant worlds flickering somewhere in the distance. The stars, filled with unknown energy.

Eve held her hand. She looked at her, and touched the scar on Klein’s face.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, again. I’ll be by your side, forever.”

How could she be so strong? At that moment, Klein felt so weak, so exhausted, and drained, but just hearing Eve talk to her, feeling the touch, filled her with so much power.

The conjurer held her beloved mogwai close. Or, perhaps, the lovers held each other - tightly, desperate.

“I love you, Klein,” Eve said, barely holding back tears and managing not to tremble, worrying, as she leaned in and locked her lips with Klein’s. The kiss that felt like no other, the one she’d been waiting for her whole life. Finally happened, binding them with a connection stronger than just the mere pact.

They fell into the tall grass, embracing each other. Not just the dragon rider’s prophecy was fulfilled today, as the little statuette slipped out of Klein’s pocket - the two back together, there, and here now.

 

Far away, a lost captain found a new home, and told the host - lonesome and abandoned by her closest - all of her stories, wiping the dust off the shelves of the home lost in time. Far away, a poet, memories ravaged by war, put words together, immortalizing the feats of her people. Far away, a warrior gathered with her people, brewing a plan - so much more than fighting - to fill holes in the hearts, the mend the wounds of their souls, of those left behind to fight for no cause. Far away, a lone scientist cried, swearing to do no harm ever again, and praying to gods she didn’t believe in, asking them to keep someone safe.

 

The cigarette light in the dark. The heart beating only to make other hearts stop. Greedy fingers hoping to grab more. A wound-ridden body surviving amongst all others, cold. Jokes and laughter, born amidst suffering and pain, to soothe all.

 

Standing atop frozen ground, Nyx’s mind was at peace as she felt her conjurer feel truly happy, at last.

Sitting next to her beloved - now free from rage - Rain was ready to fight on.

 

The war was not over, yet. Something was coming, and everyone knew it. Yet, everyone lived each moment, every single second like a whole new life, aware that it could be the last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's quite a bit to happen next, and I am very excited to announce here that this fic is going to have several endings written for it, to make sure we see characters in different outcomes of the story. I personally find the idea very cool, and I can't wait to share it all with you - hopefully at least one outcome will be to your liking. Who knows!  
> Thank you very much, again, for following the story.


	9. 9 - The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eve, Klein, Nyx, Kon and Rain talk for the last time before facing their destiny. But what would that be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the new chapter.  
> This is the last chapter of the fanfic, the next chapters after this one are, in fact, multiple endings I have decided to write for this fanfic, as I didn't know what would be more interesting. I think it's nice to see different outcomes. I really hope you enjoy reading it all!  
> I am really grateful for those readers who have been keeping up with the story.
> 
> There will be around 3 endings written.

“General, are you… sure about this?”

She had no doubt about it.   
“Captain, there’s a difference between being attentive to details, and worrying about… trivial things. If I were you… and I am, by extension, you, as you are - obviously - me, I would focus on the oncoming task. You’re no longer just soldiers, you are my eyes, ears, and most of all - the hands that will annihilate the Verrine bloodline for good.”

They kept walking, despite fear piercing through their bodies, almost freezing their limbs.

“Yes, m-my queen-”

“Not. Yet.”

 

Yorshk Voso, accompanied by at least 20 of almost identical-looking kunekune agents, was heading straight for the throne rooms, gripping a whip in her hand. As they got closer, two siren guards took interest in the commotion.

“General Voso, is something the matter?” one of them asked, genuinely curious, as it seemed.

“Oh, is something the matter? Nothing’s happening, really. Wouldn’t you all agree,” she said, turning to her loyal agents, which all nodded - although a bit unsure, “of course. Nothing is happening. Isn’t that right? And if someone else asks, you’ll tell them the same.”

Both the guard and the general smiled at each other.

“Yes. Nothing is happening. About time, too…”

The sirens moved aside and let everyone through.

 

“Remember your orders. Dispose of servants. Assume control only to assist yourself in battle. Do not let the Verrine spawn escape,” Yorshk said, and released her whip. The sound marked the beginning of their operation. Agents all got to work - some turning to their Mogwai forms and disappearing, some running further down the halls.

That day, every loyal servant Queen Kon Verrine was murdered, no matter how small or weak they were. The agents, trained by their general specifically for this and further missions, were able to take control of most Mogwai in the castle, forcing them to turn against each other, take their own lives and assist the kunekune in finding their primary target.

 

“Our queen. Something is wrong about this.”

“What is?”

“The advisor should have come back already… and… I sense and hear commotion outside.”

Kon was in the throne room, together with a snowverian noble who had joined her in the Den weeks after the young dragon became the new ruler of the Mogwai. There was no doubt that it was Rain’s idea of keeping Kon safe and keeping an eye on her through someone else. The Mogwai didn’t like the noble hunter’s presence in the castle, but tolerated it nonetheless - it was just one man.

“Surely she’ll come back soon. We have a lot to discuss… a lot to do. Can’t believe this is my life now.”

The knight grumbled impatiently, worried, as he walked back and forth around the throne room slowly, eyeing the doors. Soon enough, they were kicked open and three kunekune agents ran in, and perhaps several more slithered past them in Mogwai forms, the white tentacles rising up all around in the room.

“Cursed animals, have you got no honour?! Kon, flee, now!” the knight yelled, unsheathing two sharp, deadly swords. There was no time for titles, goodbyes or explanations. It was what it looked like - an attempt on the queen’s life. His task was to protect Kon, not to protect the title.

Although she never grew too attached to the annoying knight, leaving him alone was scary, and sad, but Kon did not wish to take any chances with her survival, and ran, abandoning the throne room as fast as possible, going through the back door to the quarters situated deeper in the castle.

The white tentacles, the thin threads and rubbery, elastic fingers of the kunekune tried to get ahold of the knight again and again - the snowverian warrior, furious, kept cutting, slashing them to pieces, slowly backing up as the enemies pressed on. Surprisingly, they couldn’t crawl into his mind - they had to pin the knight to the ground and strangle him, while he still managed to wound one of the agents.

Yorshk saw it all through their eyes. Enraged, she rushed forward, even past her own soldiers, to personally get ahold of Kon Verrine. Deep within the living quarters, she found a lone beholder casting a magic spell, nervous. Enveloped in light, Kon stood next to them, and soon vanished into thin air.

“You little…!” Yorshk screamed, ran towards the beholder, swinging the whip all around. The spell was incomplete, but the dragon queen was far gone already when the general mercilessly beat her saviour to death. The only thing she managed to do is ruin the location decided to be the exit point by the brave beholder.

The general stood up and looked around. She painted the floor with the dead mogwai’s blood, then smashed a large window in the room. Standing on the edge, she looked down as her agents managed to catch up with her.

“General, where is the dragon?” they asked, bumping into each other in the doorway, looking all around, confused.

“Flying… down to the ground, wounded. No one could survive such fall,” she looked at her loyal soldiers, then at the blood on the floor, “burn this place down. The traitor’s blood contaminated it all.”

Joyful and euphoric, they were fooled by such simple tricks, wholeheartedly believing their general. Yorshk hoped Kon would rot, wherever the spell landed her. To all Mogwai in the Den, the Verrine was no more. The castle soon burnt in high flames, leaving all promises and pacts behind. They were going to build everything anew. And everything would burn just like the castle, if it didn’t fit their needs.

 

“An old lady in some woods. Picked me up, nursed me back to health. She was so, so sweet and kind to me… didn’t even care who I was. Like she knew. I thought I was stronger, but it turned out I needed help. One of these… clingy kunekune agents managed to slip into my mind, preying on the guilt I felt when I left my bodyguard to fight alone. Exploiting my… sorrow, as I had to leave the throne, rightfully mine,” Kon told her friends, the next morning, as they all gathered around the extinguished fire, after a good breakfast. Alive and well, all five of them.

 

Yet, she was healed, or at least the Den agent was successfully driven out of her mind. Kon claimed she remembered how the woman had sliced the spy in half with a sword, without hesitation, and then went to have a nap.

In the end, after Kon had fully recovered from carrying the kunekune in her mind, the real issues kicked in. Some unknown feeling of despair as she was separated both from her throne and her conjurer - it drove her out of the helpful lady’s home. Kon ran, ran and ran again, surviving alone for weeks, lost, confused and enraged. A feeling of hunger she’d never felt before grew, turning her into something more powerful than a Mogwai, but less gentle than a Mogwai queen.

She grew. The more she consumed, the more she wandered. Memories blended, mixed and soon turned into mush, then dried up into a solid rock within her mind, one that didn’t matter anymore, and just rested in the sea of desires, flowing all around. She wanted to eat, wanted to sleep, to steal, to hoard, to fly away from all the troubles of the past life.

“I forgive you, you know, Eve. And the rest of you, for killing mother. Although it, perhaps, did bring us to war, it also stopped whatever she was up to. I’m afraid I wouldn’t know better even if she was alive. And the way I see it now… all of our past is just differences and hate, not cooperation and resolve. It really makes you wonder whose idea it was, to let us feel, and love, in a world bound to be a battleground, forever,” she said, looking at Eve and her two Mogwai.

“Well. It doesn’t matter. We’re together now,” Rain said, resting her metal gauntlet on Kon’s shoulder, almost pushing it down accidentally, not realizing the power within her suit.

“Y… yes, but of course, we are. That’s not what I mean though. What I mean is, what sort of torture is this, whole thing, you see?” she tried to raise a question, moving her hands in some odd motion, smiling nervously.

 

Everyone thought.

“Yes… I guess it’s kinda sad, what’s going on. But we’re all together, like Rain said,” Eve said, chuckling just slightly.

“Yes. Kon and I are together, now. And… you people, too,” Rain clarified, raising a finger.

“I-it’s awful. B-b-but we’ll have time to think about that later. What matters n-now is putting all we know to good use,” Nyx said, clearly somewhat impatient.

“What were you two doing, anyway?” Klein asked suddenly.

 

“Nyx was wounded. I, too, wasn’t too well after that battle, when we got separated. We somehow just… stumbled upon each other. I saw Nyx… uh,” Eve stopped talking, deep in thought.

“I realized I can just ut-t-t… tilize my powers to d-drain powers from the enemies. Harvest t-t-their souls, as humans put it,” the reaper herself confessed, rubbing her hands together.

“That’s horrible, mortifying…” Kon made a quiet remark.

“Well, I suppose that’s just a minor evil after the whole shit Yorshk unleashed at humans on Solum! Genocide? Mind control? The Den Mogwai chose their side, and they just happened on the one where they risk facing me, and all of you. They don’t walk away alive,” Klein exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loud, appalled that the dragon would have the nerve to complain.

“A-after all, they t-t-targeted civilians specifically. T-they especially infiltrated the police and rescue forces d-d… directing people to safety and t-to evacuation points. Then… just. Murdered t-them.”

“I hate this. I want them all dead, but. Is that…” Rain got lost in her own thoughts.

“It’s a bit… weird to generalize, isn’t it?” Eve wondered.

“Give me a break. This is war. I’m on this side. Peace is not negotiable, we all know it. They’re not just going to give up, or something,” Gremory grumbled, clearly annoyed by the whole conversation. She inched a bit closer to Eve. Her conjurer noticed, and carefully took Klein by the hand.

“I’m far more powerful than I used to be, Klein,” Eve said, smiling to her beloved Mogwai, “Nyx is my sword, and you are my shield. You will get used to this, soon, and we’ll… get this thing done.”

Despite the power, she still didn’t seem ready for any of this at all. Blushing and twitching nervously as she spoke, sometimes stuttering, holding onto Klein’s hand tighter. She was young, and could do many things, but she, like many others, did not deserve this war.

None of it was just. Perhaps, no one was right. Never. Solum was destined to be war-torn, infested with evil in its many forms. The overly emotional but powerful Mogwai couldn’t live with the resilient and dangerous humans. Everyone carried deceit. It was just the several individuals who set things in motion.

Eve and others knew they were to blame, too.

 

Klein was deep in thought, next to her conjurer. Soon, they would most likely gather their strength and confront Snowverians together with Rain and Kon, to take the battle to the Den. Yet, something was brewing in her mind, latching onto hope and consuming it, growing stronger. Distrust. Suspicion. What could happen next?

Would she be able to keep her promise? Return to those she had met, and bring Eve along? Save those in need?

 

They all wished they could end it once and for all, like magic, or leave the planet, but were bound to it by duties - real, made-up, believed, assumed. Whatever would bring peace to their souls, hearts and cores…

At least for now they were all together, again, and happy - even if not for long. They never knew. Perhaps, they would achieve their happy ending to a horrible story of war, suffering, violence and hate. Would it still be happy?

 

They were getting ready to.

Eve kissed Klein, and Klein did the same. They said they loved each other. Finally together.

Bittersweet.

 

**_No one ever knows what happens next. Some do, yet unclear. A statuette, symbolizing the conjurer’s reunion with her Mogwai, no doubt, instills hope. But what comes next? And what is certainly true?_ **

**_Which future would be convenient for them, and joyful for us?_ **


	10. Endings 1 and 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains two endings to the fanfic:  
> 1\. "Our birthright"  
> 2\. ”Supremacy in prophecy”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading!

**Ending 1 - “Our birthright”**

 

Perhaps, knowledge is subjective. While some Mogwai were aware of humans attempting to settle in space and failing to do so many times due to Xothian presence, such knowledge was never concrete. Simple people didn’t know anything at all.

It was a quality which humans possessed, a strong feeling of unification when threatened as a race, and a strong feeling of property. Home is where the people are. Nothing is left unseen and unnoticed, especially when a higher power watches over you. Ambassadors, conjurers, Mogwai queens and kings, warriors and soldiers - all mattered not when it came to human top business.

Perhaps, this time the message was rather delayed due to Yorshk’s mind-control plan. However, it still went through. Perhaps, at the cost of someone’s life. But to their kind, to the humankind, they were a hero, and, no doubt, died with a smile on their face. Pride of sacrifice unknown to enraged, bloodthirsty mogwai.

Snowverians were outcasts of their own, separatists, in a way, and could afford hiding their power on their secluded land. The rest of humankind required… help from above. Far, far away.

 

The battle against the Den Mogwai army turned out to be harder than the Snowverians, blinded by their prophecies, imagined. Some regretted not getting involved at the earlier stages of invasions, before Outset was reclaimed by the Mogwai.

On the battlefield, Eve and Rain, and their Mogwai, were united, and stood until the very end. Bruised, wounded, they wouldn’t give up, even when they were finally surrounded by the enemy. So many people lost - they couldn’t, and wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t dare run away.

Eve, her faceless mask partially broken, was leaning onto her loyal cat sith, and the reaper stood in front of them, brandishing the scythe, threatening the enemy. Rain and Kon - at this point in her human form - stood back to back nearby, exhausted and impaired, but not dead yet.

 

A bright flash in the skies. Then they saw the battlefield get slowly consumed by large shadows, something entirely blocking the suns above. They all raised their eyes and saw something quite inspiring, and horrifying, depending whose side they were on.

Several impossibly large starships appeared above Solum. Solid, massive, unstoppable and menacing - they just hung up there, slowly crawling above… as the bottom of one of the ships suddenly began to glow, brighter and brighter, until a massive laser ray was released onto mountains far away in the distance, carving through them, making their tops crumble. It roared so loud, as if it was infused with the rage of thousands, perhaps millions of hateful souls - all seeking revenge. It wasn’t an attack, it was a warning shot, intimidation.

Soon enough, smaller ships were dispatched from the horrifying destroyers, flying all around, and spreading the message across the battlefield.

“The treacherous Mogwai army is to surrender immediately. This is your final warning. Any attempt at continuing the battle will be met with complete eradication of the Mogwai army. Any attempt at attacking the messenger vessels will be met with complete annihilation of Mogwai species. Surrender now, or suffer the consequences,” a cold, collected voice broadcasted through the smaller ships spreading around the planet.

“Humankind, arise from your hideouts. The days of Mogwai occupations are over. You are now protected directly by the forces of the Humankind’s Colonial Vanguard.”

 

The Mogwai around the surviving conjurers and their loyals froze, confused, afraid. The new side of the conflict, apparently directly related to Outset’s humans, was far more powerful than the advanced Snowverians. Soon enough, they put their weapons down and waited, angered and ashamed.

Nyx and Kon, particularly, were shocked to see such display of power. Rain never lowered her guard, staring down several enemies nearby, despite the situation.

Eve took off her mask and smiled. She didn’t know about any of it, but deep inside, a feeling only a human would understand grew. She laughed, and almost cried, as usual, looking up at the ships in the skies.

“Klein, look! It’s our guys… our guys are here!.. We won, Klein!” she said with pride and joy, shaking Gremory’s shoulder, embracing her.

For a moment, Klein felt the same. Truly, humans cared about each other. It could also be the matter of business. But as long as it kept her conjurer safe, it didn’t matter.

Whether she would remain safe herself, was still a question to be answered.

 

Somewhere far away, a lone Mogwai doctor cheered:   
“I knew it!..”

 

Eve, Klein and Nyx all became decorated veterans of the war. The Otecho partisans were reunited with the rest of the humans and Mogwai who fought back against the invaders from the Den, or remained in hiding. Memories and friendships were restored, and the preserved light and love within their hearts shone bright.

Rough, but touching songs about the heroes of war and the feats performed by the soldiers were not forgotten and preserved. Patch, after celebrating the end of the war together with Eve, became one of the well-known war poets in the later years, and her Mogwai were recognized for their deeds as well. Luca was immortalizing - to her joy -  in all possible records about the war, but was also provided her with a place within a major science team. When H. M. S. Tenebro returned to Solum, Shep met her friends and loved ones once again, alive.

Humankind’s Colonial Vanguard spent a while on Solum, helping its people get back on their feet. The countryside was reformed, leaving many feral Mogwai without a home, but ensuring that the humans on the planet would be safe. One of the remaining relics of the old times would be Cirruwa Forest’s cat sith town, renamed once again, and the lone house where Ives resided, honouring the memory of her conjurer. Avisa spent time with her quite often, now rightfully proclaimed hero after news of her feat reached the ears of the Vanguard authorities. She was one among thousands of heroes, but felt special nonetheless.

Snowverians were generously rewarded, yet assigned a special task of not only keeping a gateway to the Den, but migrating there partially to establish control on Mogwai lands. The champion, Rain, and Kon, the Mogwai Queen, would “rule” the Den together. Mogwai had no say in anything, but had no chance to retaliate.

General Yorshk and all of her remaining agents were hunted down and captured, taken prisoner and off-planet, their fate was unknown.

  
_ All was well on Solum, then. The power shifting in humans’ favour this time. _

 

**Ending 2 - ”Supremacy in prophecy”**

 

Snowverians were impressed both with the actual prophecy coming true and the power of the young conjurer and her two Mogwai. Despite the difference in species, Klein and Nyx were respected as others were. One person told Klein:   
“You became human with the first Mogwai you sent to afterlife with this blade,” were the words she heard, words that were carved into her mind, “a soldier of your kind deserves an upgrade.”

 

It was time for battle, as the Snowverian army was preparing to face the Den Mogwai army’s at full power. The war machines carried the blue-haired warriors to battle, along with the conjurers who were in the same vehicle at the time, getting ready. They heard the Snowverian  _ sergent _   speak to his soldiers:

“Time has come! No retreat! No surrender! The prophecy has been fulfilled, and it is time to act! Fight fiercely, fight mercilessly, and remember the sacrifice of Outset dwellers! The biggest hunt of your lives comes, and after it the whole planet will rest in blue!” he yelled, and locked the visor of his suit. The rest did the same - their equipment didn’t seem as exquisite as Rain’s, but still quite impressive. All carried rifles, grenades and modern blades, prepared for the fight of their lives. Klein also was allowed to acquire the modern weaponry for this occasion, and gladly accepted it.

Eve put her mask on, sighing. Klein wished she didn’t have to see her conjurer in such battle, but the girl had proven herself many times before already. She was capable.

The gates of the transport opened, and a huge fireball was already heading towards them. The Snowverian sergeant raised his hands up, the suit generating a shield strong enough to stop the flames. He looked back at everyone.

“What are you waiting for?!”

One after another, they all left the vehicle, and headed into battle. Ahead of them ran a terrifyingly fast and deadly bunch of Snowverian “berserkers”. Klein heard that those were the most dangerous, unhinged hunters, specifically equipped with the strongest and most devastating armour and weapons. They cut through the mogwai ranks ahead like a fine, sharp knife.

 

The soldiers were shooting at stragglers, retreating mogwai, and those left out in front after the initial push. Eve conjured a shield with Klein’s help and maintained it over the Snowverian forces, while Nyx sent cold winds and shards of ice towards the Mogwai ahead.

Meanwhile, Rain and Kon had to concentrate. Slowly, the former Mogwai Queen turned into her true dragon form, and gradually grew, and grew, and grew until she was larger than any infantry transport or Snowverian armor behind them.

She breathed in and out, each time sending strong gusts of wind towards the enemies, slowly summoning lesser and bigger hurricanes which tore through the Den Mogwai ranks. Rain sat on top of Kon and inspired her people to keep fighting, more than ever.

Klein also found herself fond of the battle, the new weaponry adding more kills to her record with almost each shot. It was easy, and liberating - to kill someone you hated so much. United with others in field, she didn’t think about the consequences and reasons, her actions didn’t need questioning.

“This one’s for you. This one’s for you. That one is for them,” she muttered to herself, squeezing the trigger with her finger, sending bullets towards enemies, grabbing and hurling grenades at their positions.

 

The Mogwai cried, screamed, slowly being destroyed by the might of the Snowver army. Klein laughed, and cheered along with other soldiers. Even the ones wounded and dying were happy, somehow. Gremory, knee-deep in dirt, holding a gun in her hand, looked back at Eve. And smiled, unashamed, with all of her teeth. Behind the faceless mask, she knew - Eve did the same. Revenge was sweet and intoxicating. It didn’t matter if they accidentally took their revenge a bit too much…

 

It wasn’t long before they marched on Den itself. Soon, Snowverians would rule, much harsher than the Outset humans, and would ensure the safety of people on Solum. The safety of the Mogwai was then decided by their kill count. Those who killed other Mogwai were celebrated as heroes. Those who abstained from killing were considered peaceful. Those who killed humans, were ended.

 

Only one species could be prevalent and powerful on Solum. Perhaps, in the future, the power would shift again.

  
Eve and her Mogwai were treated well under the Snowverian rule. Gradually, Outset was taken back and the blue-haired hunters took good care of the rampant wildlife there, as well as surviving and hiding Den Mogwai. Staccato moved back to Sunwich and could live her life in peace with Klein and Nyx, her services not required as much in the world where a new easier, although more violent, solution to all problems was established - merciless capital punishment. It was difficult to accept such new reality, but they had no choice. The Reaper and the Wanderer have lost their ties to the Mogwai culture long ago, regardless.

Rain and Kon were proclaimed eternal heroes of the Snowverian people, and were allowed to do as they pleased. They roamed the planet, together, free of all worries, free of everything, flying high.

The Otecho partisans survived the war, were rewarded by the Snowverian rule, but weren’t needed as much and slowly were forgotten. Patch and her Mogwai spent a lot of time with Eve. They remembered each other, at the very least.

H. M. S. Tenebro returned to Solum, reuniting many families. They had to get used to the new atmosphere in their towns, the absence of friendly alliances with the Mogwai. Learning the language of the hunters also proved quite difficult, but manageable.

Cirruwa Forest was cleared of most feral Mogwai, the cat sith town was never planned to be rebuilt by Snowverians. In the depths of the forest, humans built a town of their own instead, the only memory of the old times remaining there was the house where Ives still resided, honouring the sacrifice of her conjurer. The hunters often visited her and she managed to make several friends, and kept in touch with Avisa, who agreed to pilot Snowverian vehicles.

General Yorshk and her agents were killed on spot, as soon as every single one of them was captured. She lost for the last time.

 

**_All was quiet on Solum. Sharp knife held at the neck of those who disagreed. Humans lived, yet not in the way they used to._ **


	11. Ending 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. This will be the last ending for this fanfic. I had several other ideas in mind, but they seemed a bit too much or out of place.  
> I don't know if I will elaborate on anything within this fanfic's universe more. But if I will, such future work obviously will be linked to this.  
> There is no such thing as "true" ending here, I believe. At first, I didn't have any in mind anyway, so the main point is clearly within the chapters.

**Ending 3 - “Painkiller”**

 

They were on their way to Snowver when Kon suddenly felt really, really tired - too exhausted to keep flying. They had to stop in the ruined and pillaged town of Bowfort. Once full of farms and trade, it was just an empty, sad waste when they arrived.

The conjurers and their Mogwai took shelter in an abandoned house, one of the very few still standing. Long time ago, before the war, it belonged to the local conjurer, Belle. She was long gone from Solum, safe, somewhere in space. They envied her, but were also happy for her.

Kon had to lie down, and soon, even Nyx required some rest. The only ones still awake were Eve, Rain and Klein, who shared stories with each other: stories of war, of course. Thinking about the good old times was much more painful. Sicilienne wasn’t even able to sit still for five minutes without checking on Kon, and generally seemed very concerned and distressed. Eve, on the other hand, was at ease. Klein was there, with her. And Nyx would surely get well soon - she was too powerful to fall ill…

They sat, together, laughing and talking quietly, having the last moments of peace before the their final battle. They thought they would join the Snowverians and attack the Den Mogwai…

 

Yet, the Den Mogwai managed to make the first move.

Klein noticed that Eve suddenly froze in place, with an odd, crooked smile on her face. Something stuck out through her chest - an edge of something really, really sharp.

 

It was so, so cold. At first, because of the realization. Then, because of the one who did it. Nyx was standing up, behind her conjurer, the scythe stuck in Eve’s back. The eyes of the Reaper were dark, empty - deep and bottomless, two icy rings flickering within them.

“You can’t have her, Gremory,” she said, looking right at the fellow Mogwai. It was her, but it wasn’t her at all. Sounded way too different. And it made it even easier for Klein to retaliate with no hesitation.

The cat sith pulled the pistol from under her poncho and shot Nyx - again, and again, and again, forcing bullet after bullet through the Reaper’s skull. She already knew someone else took over her - otherwise Ronove would have saved herself. She also knew she, perhaps, could help Nyx, but there was no time. Her conjurer would surely die. It was a shock.

Blood was all over the floor. Klein looked down at Nyx, who let her last breath out.

It hurt, yet deep inside, she felt a small, almost tiny bit of relief. Why? She never hated the Reaper. Perhaps, the Reaper wouldn’t hate her anymore.

 

“Kon! Stand down! Kon! I don’t want to fight you!” Rain spoke loudly somewhere behind.

 

Klein turned around. She saw Kon - like never before - her body covered in scales while keeping her human form, trying to rip through Rain’s shield with large claws - in place of her hands. She was possessed, no doubt about it. For how long? The agents had slept within them, waiting for the right moment?

It wasn’t her fight. Her own battle was just beginning. Not just one, but several kunekune agents appeared over Ronove’s corpse, which was slowly withering away and turning into just the remains of her core.

“How lucky. Two birds, one stone,” one of them spoke, dusting her hands.

“There’s two of us, though,” the other said, smiling.

“Save your breath. Why can’t we get into her head?”   
“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to, ever since the dumb Reaper consumed that soldier I was hiding in.”

“Are you almost done babbling, you fucking scum?” Klein hissed at them.

“Oh, we’ll get to you, furball, don’t worry. Just trying to reach our queen at the moment. You wouldn’t understand. Perhaps, you should have just remained a drunk, back in the days. You’re a pretty shit pact Mogwai, you know?” one of them spoke, leaning on the wall, as if nothing mattered.

In the distance, Rain struggled with possessed Kon, breaking the walls in the house, pushing her around everywhere

“I will fucking bury you,” Klein said, standing still. She glanced at Eve.

It was all too late.

“Yeah, well, we’d love to see you try. Got more of us coming to this place as we speak. Think about it. Perhaps, you’d like to serve instead of dying. We know a lot about you. You’re a coward. Why not strike a good deal with us, drop this facade?” the kunekune agent kept talking. She looked over at Rain punching Kon through the wall of the house, “Ugh, that blue-haired idiot’s gonna be a problem.”

“Shut your damn mouth,” Klein said, raising her hand with the revolver still in it. It clicked - she forgot she had wasted all of the ammo on possessed Nyx earlier. The other kunekune summoned a steel club and whacked the cat sith on the head with it, making her stagger and fall down on the floor. Soon, both of them stood above Klein and kept beating her, laughing.

 

“You’re really pathetic, you know? Almost makes me feel sad for beating the shit out of you,” the talkative agent kept teasing Gremory.

It hurt. Too much.

She finally failed. Maybe that’s how it was supposed to end. She thought and hoped too much. The bloody queen was always steps ahead.

 

_ “When the time comes… if you will be in pain, in great pain, struggling, please, take this. And remember.” _

 

It was too late to give up. Death came to the abandoned home that day, yet it lingered, hoping to harvest more. Klein smiled, devastated, blood leaking through broken teeth, out of her mouth. She coughed, rolling to the side and swiping something from her pocket, and swallowed it. One of the agents immediately grabbed her neck and tried to stop her.

“What is that?! Hold on- damn it! She wants to get away from us!”

“I’ll get your damn core, keep you alive just to torture you, damn cat! Don’t you dare die now!.. Why didn’t you stop her?!”   
“I tried, damn it, I tried!”

 

Suddenly, it all felt fine, and light. Pain was great. The risk of death was hopeful. The power surge she felt couldn’t be compared to anything. Although it felt as if she was burning from inside, gradually crumbling - on the outside Klein experienced… everything at once.

She suddenly wriggled out of the kunekune’s grasp and bit her hand - hard enough to almost tear it off with her ruined teeth. Klein then was able to immediately get up from the floor, sliding a dagger out of a sheath - its blade went straight into the side of another agent’s neck.

“What… is going on?”

Gremory thrusted her hand forward, ripping out her enemy’s throat, to the horror of the kunekune in front of her.

“One,” Klein said, wiping the blade on her own clothes. She then stepped forward, towards the agent.

They fought and struggled, the kunekune desperately tried to keep the weapon away from herself, swinging her club at Klein again and again, almost certainly breaking the cat sith’s shoulder or several ribs at that point - but it didn’t seem to matter. Gremory slowly walked into her enemy, pointing the blade forward. Unstoppable, and terrifying.

“Two,” she whispered right into the agent’s ear, before letting her slide down the wall.

 

The backup arrived quite soon. Two more kunekune agents, along with two large cu siths, crawled into the house through a hole in the wall, perhaps the one that Rain had made while fighting Kon. They saw Gremory in the room, surrounded by blood, core shards, standing in front of the corpse of her conjurer. She proudly held a shortsword, and there was no pain in her eyes.

“In the name of our Queen, drop your weapon!” one of the cu siths said, drawing his sword.

“Just get her!” the agents behind commanded, clearly worried.

 

Klein fought the two swordsmen with bravery and drive unseen before, parrying strike after strike, moving out of the way whenever they tried to corner her, slipping through their fingers. And each time she’d leave a wound or two on them, gradually driving her opponents out of their minds with the pain, enraging the cu siths. At the right moment, she drove the sword into one of the knight’s sides, noticing a breach in the armor. Disarmed, she seemed like an easy target for the remaining soldier, until her own hand grew, turning into sharp, deadly claws that ripped through the enemy’s face in an instant.

“Three, four.”

 

The fight went on, as more and more nearby Mogwai forces were called in for help. The battle was endless, but Klein didn’t feel a thing. She was just a feather, floating in the wild winds.

She saw Rain go down in the fight with Kon, both of them wounded beyond any chances of survival. She saw them both die, together, and still couldn’t feel anything. At some point, Klein missed feeling, but couldn’t stop fighting. Nothing was enough to avenge Eve.

“Thirty… five.”

 

Gremory had to take a knee. Then, her own legs stopped holding her up, bending and crumbling under her.

Even more Den Mogwai soldiers surrounded her - all enraged, and horrified, despite outnumbering the lone, desperate cat sith. She crawled around, digging through the core shards, the debris, the dirt in the house until she finally reached Eve.

Klein couldn’t see her all too well, but knew it was her - her beloved conjurer. She felt infinitely sorry. Devastated. Failed. Whatever was in that vial - it was wearing off.

She didn’t want the Den Mogwai soldiers claiming they killed her. Klein was ready to join Eve in a better place.

 

Didn't matter anymore. War finally consumed them all, wrecking their dreams. The illusion of hope was shattered.

Klein pierced her own chest and fell down next to Eve.

“Ah… fuck,” Gremory grunted, remembering something before succumbing to the wounds.

 

Because, after all, she wouldn’t be able to come back into this world, like Eve, to live with her once again.

 

Not that they would be welcome, either. Snowverians’ prophecy was not fulfilled. Klein’s mission was failed. 

**All was gone, but the Mogwai remained. Would peace then remain on Solum, without humans in sight? No one knew.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, once again, for reading through everything in this fanfic - since you've reached this message!  
> If you loved it - I'm glad, if you didn't - that's fine, I'll improve, still glad you gave it a chance.  
> Writing all of it was great fun and also fine experience for me. I'm looking forward to writing some more other stuff and sharing it with you.


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